Ultimate SpiderGirl: Zero To Hero
by Shade Penn
Summary: Perenna Parker. Before spider bite: high school nerd. After: still a high school nerd but with spider powers she uses to fight crime. Though now she has to struggle to find a balance between the two, but it gets harder when they constantly overlap.
1. Prologue

A/N: This fic is a cross between the Ultimate 'verse and the original mainstream comics, the notable exception being that I've once again made Peter into the female incarnation I've given him, and the fact I'm giving this character the title of Spider-Girl rather than Spider-Woman, simply because the character is still young enough _to_ be called a girl.

That, and I'm _including_ the original Spider-Woman in this fic.

And one more thing, this story also ties into _Ultimate Blaze_ later on.

* * *

><p>Prologue<p>

In the beginning, Perenna Parker's three favorite phrases were 'What do I want?' 'How do I get it?' And, 'How do I stop others from taking it?'

So far she knew that only one of those had been answered. All other attempts at the other two had failed miserably.

Perenna was-for all intents and purposes-bi-sexual, and as a result, she got heckled a lot for it. It didn't help that she was the resident genius nerdy girl in middle school and high school. The latter of which she was forced to endure being bullied by the cheerleaders _and_ jocks.

Still, she had her awesome Aunt May there for her, though the thought of what happened to her Uncle Ben had always made Perenna feel guilty (but that's for later), and her two best friends Harry and Eddie, who were both more popular than she was. To the point where they got asked _why_ they even hung around her.

Perenna though never asked that question because she knew the answer; she'd known Harry since they were in middle school and had been outcasts then-him with his money, and her for her brains-though only Perenna still _was_ the outcast. And as for Eddie, well, she'd pretty much known the guy all her life, even with him being two years older than her.

Even though she knew her life wasn't bad or perfect; it was still _her_ life, and all it took to change all that was one little bite on a school trip.


	2. Dynamic Entry

A/N: I own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Dynamic Entry<strong>

"It gets worse every day." 15 year old Perenna Parker muttered to herself as she changed out of her baggy dark blue hoodie, which had been stained with milk that some jock had thrown at her as she had left school.

Instead of making a fuss over it, Perenna had told Harry that she'd head home to change her shirt before heading over to his house to study. He had looked like _he_ wanted to make a big deal out of it, but had relented and she took off home.

She had briefly greeted her aunt and uncle before she had headed upstairs and at the current moment she threw on a clean grays shirt and her ponytail bounced slightly as she headed back down stairs with her pack over her shoulder. "I'm going to Harry's to study, be back later!" she called before walking out the door.

Perenna and Harry rarely studied at his house and usually opted to study at hers, but she didn't want to bother him with the sudden change. Besides, in the afternoon of tomorrow their Science class was taking field trip to his dad's company, but they had an English test in first period.

She had taken the bus and when she arrived, Perenna found Harry waiting outside the building. "You didn't have to _wait_ out here all this time."

"How else we you gonna be able to get inside then if I wasn't out here?" Harry retorted.

Perenna rolled her eyes. "I believe a simple knock probably would've worked." She returned as they entered the doorway and went into the house. Perenna welcomed the warm interior to the chilly November air outside.

Harry merely smirked as he steered her toward the stairs. "Yeah, but we gotta be quiet. My dad's here and he hates getting disturbed when he's in his study."

"Your dad's home?" Perenna asked in surprise.

"I know; I'm shocked too." Harry retorted dryly.

Perenna snickered as they went up the staircase and quietly went into her friend's room. She took her books out of her pack and well into their twenty minutes of studying, she felt like pulling her hair out. "A nerd I may be, a Shakespearean I am not." She griped. "I can barely follow all these old English words."

"Ah, so you _are_ a normal teenager after all." Harry quipped.

Perenna snorted as she turned the page. "Least I have an English genius like you to help me."

"I'll admit I never thought I'd be helping _you_ pass at something, Miss Straight A Student." Harry retorted. "Seriously, how _do_ you do it?"

Perenna smirked as she flipped her ponytail. "Must be my studious nature." She replied huffily before her smirk turned into a smile. "What did I ever do to have a best friend like you?"

Harry smiled back at her. "I should be asking _you_ that." He returned before raising a brow. "'Best friend,' huh? So I rank higher than Mister Varsity Football Captain?"

Perenna rolled her eyes. "You need to come up with shorter nicknames. Those two are a mouthful." She remarked. "But serious, you and Eddie are _both_ my best buds. He just happens to have known me longer. That being said, you're both practically my brothers." She said smiling.

Perenna then put her book down. "Anyway, all these words are making my head spin, what's a study session without snacks, right?" she asked raising a brow.

"You read my mind, _sis_." Harry replied smirking as they both headed down stairs.

"You know," Perenna began as she made her sandwich and finished it off by adding cucumbers, "I don't think I've ever met your dad before."

"Trust me, you do and you'll never wanna see me again." Harry retorted and looked at her sandwich topping. "Cucumbers, really?"

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it." Perenna returned with a smirk.

"While we're on the subject, I've told my dad about you," Harry started off, and Perenna didn't notice he didn't mention their other friend, "but I'm pretty sure he just thinks you're an imaginary friend that I made up." He finished lamely.

"Ha!" Perenna shouted, then gasped as she covered her mouth. It got very quiet, but there was no sound from upstairs. "I-I think we should head back up now." she stuttered uneasily.

"R-right." Harry agreed quickly.

They both grabbed their snacks and both quickly and quietly hurried back upstairs, softly closing the door behind them.

"Think he heard?" Perenna asked softly.

"I'd be surprised if he _didn't_ hear you." Harry replied grimly.

They were silent for a tense moment and still heard no indication that Harry's dad had heard her outburst.

"Still, if he did, would he really do anything?" Perenna questioned uncertainly.

"Yes, he'd probably tell you to leave." Harry retorted flatly. "We just have to be quiet for the rest of the session." He advised.

"Right." Perenna agreed nodding her head. "So, did you tell your dad what you plan on going to college for?"

Harry snorted, as if the idea of telling his father was laughable. "Tell him what, that I want to go to college for the arts? Yeah, I plan on telling him right away." He said sarcastically.

"Would he really disapprove that much?" Perenna questioned perplexed.

"Perry, you're aunt and uncle are good, _supporting_ people that would be with you whatever field you go in." Harry said in a matter-of-factly tone. "My dad…isn't."

"Oh." Perenna mumbled, then she reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a slight squeeze. "Well, you know _I_ support you, right bro?"

"Of course I know."

* * *

><p>"Aw crap, how did two hours pass by without either of us noticing?" Perenna grumbled as she checked the clock in her friend's room. She began to put her books back in her pack and she headed for the door. "See ya at school tomorrow, Harry."<p>

"Wait, I can't let you walk; we'll take the car." Harry said following her out.

Perenna raised a brow. "I thought you only had a learner's permit?"

"Come on, it's only a short trip, besides, it's so cold out. Don't want you to freeze." Harry replied.

Perenna looked thoughtful. "Well, if you're sure…"

"Absolutely."

Perenna relented after that and they both made their way down to the garage. They both got into the car and the drive to her house was done in small talk. "You think you made the basketball team again?"

"I'm their star player; they _can't_ get rid of me." Harry said smirking. "What about you, did you try out for anything?"

Perenna snorted. "Yeah right, I ain't got one athletic bone in my body. I may be lanky, but I have _no_ upper body strength."

"It does explain how I've always been able to pick you up so easily." Harry said elbowing her side.

Perenna laughed shaking her head. "Please, I'm _tiny;_ being able to pick me up isn't much of an accomplishment." She added smirking.

"Yeah, I keep thinking Eddie's gonna crush you whenever he hugs you." Harry retorted.

Perenna rolled her eyes. "If you weren't driving this car, I'd hit you." She said darkly. "But since I'm not fond of crashing, you're spared, _this time_." She added smirking as her friend snorted in amusement.

Their conversation and light-hearted jabs at each other ended when Harry pulled the car up next to a driveway to a quaint two story house. "Well, see you tomorrow, Perry."

"Yeah." Perenna suddenly reached out and mussed her friend's reddish-brown hair up. "Lay off the product, Harry. You're hair looks better a little messy." She said smiling as she pulled her hand back.

"Right, hair neat leaving and messy getting back, _that_ won't raise any questions _at all_." Harry said rolling his eyes.

Perenna chuckled as she got out of the car. "See ya." She said closing the door behind her and walking up to the house. She watched the car drive away before unlocking the door with her key and going inside, shutting the door behind her. A whiff of food hit her nose and she smiled. "I'm home!"


	3. Halfway There

A/N: I own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Halfway There<strong>

Perenna yawned as she woke up and stretched out her arms. She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face and turned off the alarm clock. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, grabbing some clean clothing and heading to the bathroom.

After washing up, drying her hair and pulling it into a ponytail that just barely grazed the nape of her neck, Perenna exited wearing her clean gray hoodie with and light blue jeans, pushing the glasses she wore back up her nose.

When she went down the stairs, she saw her aunt finishing making breakfast, wearing a gray suit for the law firm she works at as a secretary, and her uncle was drinking his morning coffee before he went to the electrical company he worked at.

They had been more like parents than aunt and uncle. And she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

"Breakfast is ready Perenna." Aunt May said setting the plates on the table.

Perenna smiled as she put several slices of pancakes on her plate and began cutting it up and began eating after putting syrup on it. She finished it in 10 minutes and put her plate in the sink, then began helping her aunt clean up the table after they were all finished eating.

There was the sound of a horn honk outside and Perenna smiled again. "See ya." She said giving her aunt and uncle each a kiss on the cheek before she put her pack over her shoulder and raced outside, shutting the door behind her. She opened the door to the gray car and got into the passenger seat. "Hi, Eddie." She greeted and closed the door.

The older teen smiled at her and pulled the car away from the sidewalk. "Morning Perry." He greeted her back. "Heard your Science class is going on a trip to OsCorp today."

Perenna nodded. "Yeah." She replied. "You think about what college you'll be going to next year?"

"ESU, Pretty Perry." Eddie responded.

Perenna's face heated, as it did every time she was called that. "Don't call me that."

"What, it's better than the Puny Parker that Flash calls you, isn't it?" Eddie questioned.

"Well, yes." Perenna admitted. "But while it sounded cute when we were kids, now it sounds, well…" she trailed off uncomfortably. "It sounds like something you'd call a pretty person, and I'm nerdy, not pretty."

"Are you kidding?" Eddie asked shaking his head. "Haven't you heard Perry that nerds are sexy?"

Perenna laughed at this. "I think some people might find that a little subjective." She replied smiling, her almost somber mood brightening up.

They continued making small talk until they arrived at Midtown High, Perenna waving at Eddie as she walked away and went into the school. Her mood dampened when she saw Flash, Liz, Kenny, and Sally all talking by her locker. She saw where this was gonna go, and while she wished she could just do the smart thing and avoid them, she needed to put her pack in her locker.

Why? Because the last person who tripped on a bag in class got sent to the hospital with a concussion because they hit their head on a desk, so the principal enforced a strict 'no backpacks in class' rule.

Despite knowing what was likely to happen if she walked over to her locker, she didn't need more trouble than she already got, so she tried to walk over as quietly as possible. Though if one of them saw her if wouldn't really matter.

Perenna grimaced slightly as the locker squeaked when she opened it and took the two books she'd need for her English class after the test, the textbook and her note book, she closed her locker quietly and peeking from the corner of her eye, she saw that they hadn't noticed her.

Not willing to jinx herself, she hurried off to first period.

* * *

><p>"Man, this is so cool." Perenna whispered as she looked around the room. She wished she had brought her camera now instead of leaving it home in her room.<p>

"Only you'd think this was cool, Perry." Harry said with a slight smirk.

Perenna scowled half-heartedly at him, before she paused. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Puny Parker probably fit right in here with the other boring stuff then." Hands grabbed the back of Perenna's hoodie and pulled it over her face and closed the drawstrings on it.

Perenna kept one grip on Harry's arm to keep herself from falling flat on her face, and used the other to loosen her hood enough for her to see again. She let go of her friends arm and pulled the hood down and scowled at Flash's retreating back as he and his friends laughed. "Jerk." She muttered.

The class quieted down as the tour guide began showing them around and gestured to the row of different and exotic looking spiders that were marked red and blue. "…And with genetic material from three spiders; strength, webs, and "precognition," have been molded to make these 15 Super Spiders."

"There's like, only 14." The blond known as Gwen Stacy pointed out.

The tour guide looked at the glass also and nodded. "Well, it seems that the researches must be testing that one." She explained. "Now let's move along."

Perenna went to look at the spider tank herself and felt the hairs raising across the nape of her neck. _'What…?_' she reached back and when she put her hand to her neck, she felt something bite down. "Ouch!" she hissed as she flicked the thing from her neck and looked down at the ground to see the now dead missing spider. She looked at her hand and saw two raised red bumps.

"Hey, Perry, hurry up." She heard Harry call.

"R-right." Perenna replied weakly as she suddenly felt very dizzy. She tried to walk, but held onto the support beam to keep herself from keeling over. Something was very wrong.

Having noticed that Perenna had yet to catch up, Harry looked back to see his now pale friend leaning against a support beam. "Perry, is something wrong?"

Perenna grimaced as she clutched her stomach. Maybe it was just something in the school lunch that hadn't sat well with her. "Uh, there's a rest room here, right?"

Harry furrowed his brow. "Yeah, do you want me to show you?" Perenna nodded her head slightly. "Well, okay. But shouldn't we get the teacher?"

"No, I'm sure it's not something that needs any more attention." Perenna protested softly, and while it was embarrassing to have to be lead to the restroom with Harry half-carrying her, she didn't protest it.

"Just, come out when you're feeling better." He said as she nodded and went into the women's restroom.

Half-hour later, Harry was still standing awkwardly beside the door when the teacher came storming up to him, looking rather irritated. "Osborn, why aren't you on the bus?"

"Um, you see, Perenna wasn't feeling too good and she asked me to bring her to the restroom. She hasn't come out." Harry explained sheepishly.

"Then go in and bring her out." The teacher replied.

Harry flushed as he nodded in defeat. "Uh, sure then." He nervously poked his head in, but his expression turned to shock as he saw Perenna lying on the floor. "Perry?" he shouted as he rushed over to her and checked her pulse. He felt some relief that she was still alive, but her breathing was shallow, and her skin looked so pale now. "Perry?" he tried again as he shook her shoulder to give him some response of any kind.

When she grimaced, he took it as a good sign she was still responsive and called out to the teacher who was now looking in to see what was taking so long. "Teach! Call an ambulance!"

He saw the bite marks on her hand, but brushed it off as unimportant to the current situation. Which was his best friend lying practically dead on the restroom floor.

* * *

><p>When Perenna came to, she found that to her immense surprise that not only was she in a hospital bed, but that she felt perfectly fine. No chills, or aching muscles, or anything else she had been feeling before she passed out.<p>

She sat up cautiously and found both her aunt and uncle sitting near her bed. "Aunt May? Uncle Ben?" she called.

Aunt May woke first, and when she caught sight of Perenna sitting up, looking perfectly healthy, she shook Ben awake. "Ben, Ben wake up, Perenna's awake."

"What?" Uncle Ben said groggily before he too saw Perenna sitting up in the hospital bed.

Perenna blinked and when she felt both her aunt and uncle hug her, all she thought was that they were both still incredibly speedy given their ages. "It's okay, I'm fine."

"Fine, you call passing out in the restroom half dead fine, young lady?" Aunt May questioned sternly.

Perenna looked at her in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"Harry told us what happened." Uncle Ben supplied.

"Yes, and you're not leaving this hospital until the doctor says you're fine, Perenna." Aunt May said in tone that would not be argued with.

Perenna wisely agreed to this.

One bill of health later and the three of them were walking down the hall of the hospital towards the exit.

"Perry!"

Perenna looked over and saw her red-haired friends quickly making his way over to her. "Hey, Harry. I didn't think you'd be here."

"You kidding, I wasn't leaving until I saw you were okay with my own eyes." Harry replied. "You seriously freaked me out for a second."

"Well, I'm all better now." Perenna said reassuringly.

"I can see that." Harry replied dryly. "Hey, what happened to you glasses?"

"Oh, right, forgot about those." Perenna said putting her glasses on, only for her to get very confused. Everything was now blurry and out of focus. She decided to play along until she could say that she was wearing contacts if anyone asked.

While fixed vision was welcoming, it left a lot unanswered. Like _how_ it got fixed for instance.

Still, she could think about it later.


	4. Dawn Of A New Day

A/N: I own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Dawn Of A New Day<strong>

Perenna awoke the next day feeling refreshed and didn't looked like someone who'd been half-dead the previous day. She'd slept in her clothes as she'd been too lazy to change into her night clothes and discarded her hoodie before she pulled off her shirt and walked past her mirror to the closet.

…wait a second.

Perenna backtracked and stared at her body in the mirror. She spun around to see if she was really looking at _her_ body. While she hadn't been very athletic before, her body now looked like that of a runner or gymnast; lean, and toned around the waist and on the arms.

She saw that the muscle tone had also increased her bust size, but since she would be wearing a relatively shapeless gray hoodie, the thought quickly left her mind. She pulled on a red tee-shirt before putting her hoodie back on, keeping in mind to wash it after school.

Perenna brushed her hair and pulled it up into its ponytail, the loose locks framing her face like they always did. She was lowering her hands when she caught sight of the swelled down bite mark on her hand. While she had hated the fact it had landed her in the hospital, the benefits the bite had made itself known. Fixing her vision being the most beneficial one she saw.

It meant no more would she have to deal with people, and by that she meant jocks and cheerleaders, stealing her glasses.

Perenna caught sight of something unusual. She saw that her fingertips seemed to have small pale patches. She pushed the confusion to the back of her mind; she didn't want to ruin her own good mood right now. She'd find out what it was later.

Perenna headed downstairs after changing into a clean pair of jeans and had slung her pack over her shoulder. "Morning!"

"Good morning Perenna, how are you feeling today?" Aunt May asked.

"Better than I've ever felt actually." Perenna replied honestly as she sat down on a chair at the table and put several slices of pancakes on her plate and added the syrup.

"You sure?" Uncle Ben questioned. "We could call the school and tell 'em you're sick."

"Really, I'm feeling fine." Perenna insisted; then she discreetly changed the subject. "So how's work going?"

"Good." Aunt May answered somewhat shortly, as since she worked in a law firm she really couldn't _talk_ about anything she did.

"New trainees got hired yesterday, one I had to work with asked if I knew you." Uncle Ben replied.

"Really? Who was it?" Perenna asked intrigued, then hoped it wasn't one of her tormentors.

"Kid said his name was Max Dillon." Uncle Ben replied.

Perenna's brow furrowed for a second before recognition flashed across her face. "Yeah, I know him; he's in my science class, sometimes I help him with his class work." _'Then Flash would throw spit wads at us.'_ She added silently.

A honk honked from outside and Perenna finished up her breakfast before rushing to the sink and slinging her pack over her shoulder and headed for the door. "See ya, bye!" she shouted and closed the door behind her. When she got into the car, she was surprised when the driver reached over and hugged her. "Wha-Eddie, what is it?"

"I heard about yesterday from you aunt and uncle, but when I called again, they said you'd gone to sleep, and I just want to make sure you're okay." Eddie replied as he pulled back and looked her over.

Perenna blushed lightly and she closed the door, putting the seat belt on next. "Really, I feel great. Better than ever, even got contacts." She said pointing to her eyes, though she knew it was better to diffuse the question before it got asked.

"That's nice Perry. You'll be at the game after school though, won't you? Need my lucky charm there after all." The blond replied smirking.

Perenna laughed at that, finding it rather funny that he always attributed his team's winning streak to _her_ being in the stands. "Long as I don't have to go to the _sophomore_ game beforehand; seriously, letting students out to watch guys running into each other is a waste of time when they could wait until _after_ school, or the weekend."

"_Blasphemy."_ Eddie replied as his smirk widened and reached over to lightly punch her shoulder. "I _dare_ you to say footballs a waste of time to other _less understanding_ people than I."

Perenna huffed. "I did that and I'd end up locked in the janitor's closet all day."

When they arrived at school, Perenna saw a school bus that had a marker on the side reading 'Midtown Middle School' on it and she slapped her forehead. "I totally spaced!" she griped. "Today is Shadow Day, see ya at lunch." She said before rushing towards the office, and almost crashed into Liz when she turned the corner. "Sorry! I didn't see you."

Liz gave her a slight glare, as she had seen Perenna as a small annoyance and didn't actively seek out to antagonize her like Sally did. "Watch it next time."

"Yeah, got it." Perenna mumbled and continued on her way to the main office, only noticing that Liz was going in the same direction as well.

"So I see that you're feeling better."

Perenna looked back at the blond in surprise. "What?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "Everyone on the bus saw the ambulance leaving OsCorp, plus the fact no one else seemed to notice that you or Harry weren't on the bus."

Perenna had to grudgingly admit that it was nice one of the popular kids noticed that she hadn't returned to the bus yesterday, but then remembered that she might have been an afterthought since Harry was also popular.

Of course she'd be an afterthought.

"Right, I'm all better now." Perenna muttered as they both reached the office foyer. There were dozens of kids mixed in with the high school students. The teacher for the middle school handed a paper to the teacher for her school and the 'sorting' as it were got started.

There was a shorter list than Perenna thought as each high school student was called alphabetically, but paired off with a rather random middle school student. Perenna herself had gotten paired with a cute brown-haired girl whose hair looked more orange-reddish brown; and brown eyes behind a pair of glasses.

"Hello." The girl said politely.

"Hello." Perenna said extending the same courtesy.

"As you now know, my name is Serenity Wheeler, but I feel it is much more pertinent to introduce myself properly." The girl said with a sweet smile that belied her vocabulary.

Perenna was starting to see what the teachers had based the seemingly random pairings on. "My name's Perenna Parker, buy you may call me Perry if you wish."

"Then you may call me Ren, most do." Serenity replied maintaining her polite tone of voice. "What class do you have first?"

"English is first, then Biology, lunch, Science, and then P.E last." Perenna replied.

Serenity seemed to 'relax' somewhat when Science was mentioned. "You are good at Science?"

"Yes, best in the class and considered the smartest kid in the whole school. Or, at least that's what everyone tells me." Perenna answered ruefully. "Are you good at Science?"

Serenity shook her head. "Not really, but I do well; computers are more my strong suit. And I also happen to be a journalist for my school newspaper."

Perenna smiled at the girl as they headed off to her English class. "I'm also into journalism, photography being _my_ hobby."

"Are you on the newspaper here?" Serenity asked curiously.

Perenna shook her head. "The only thing I ever got to do for my newspaper was take pictures of the football players that teased and tormented me, so I quit."

"I can see why." Serenity said dryly. "A nerd is a jock's mortal enemy, girl or not."

Perenna nodded her head solemnly. "It's so nice to find someone who gets me."

Serenity smiled again. "I can't believe you just said that with a straight face."

* * *

><p>When lunch time had rolled around, Perenna and Serenity had gotten along rather well, talking and exchanging the similarities and contrasts of Midtown and Domino (the other high school that had been an option for the middle school kids to go to).<p>

Perenna wondered how Serenity knew so much about Domino, but she figured that the girl must have just researched the other school like she had with Midtown on which she wanted to go to.

"I actually only decided on Midtown finally because my mom flat out said she didn't want me to go to Domino." Serenity admitted.

"That's kinds harsh, the worst that happens there is they have to wear a uniform all year round." Perenna said lightly, but the dour look on Serenity's face said there was a deeper reason to her mother's objections.

"Yeah, uniform." The girl agreed faintly. Then she noticed a dark-haired girl whose hair was so dark it looked blue. "Hey Blair."

The girl with blue hair and red jacket looked at Serenity with a slight smile. "Hey Ren, how's your chaperone treating you?"

Serenity smiled back. "Good, yours?"

Blair scowled lightly. "_She's_ fine, but her boyfriend is a bit of jerk, I just had to get away from them."

Perenna remembered that Blair's chaperone was Liz. "You have pity."

Blair looked at her with a sardonic expression as she set her tray down. "Gee, thanks." She said flatly and flicked a lock of hair back over her shoulder. "If anything, you have _my_ pity. I think I'll just do what Syrus said he was going to do; go to Domino."

"Aw, but I won't see you here then." Serenity whined lightly.

Blair smirked as she poked at her food, or what could be just passable for food. "You have your friend here to keep you company, Ren."

"She's right you know." Perenna agreed with a nod. Another person approached the table and sat down on Perenna's other side. "Hey, Eddie."

"Perry." Eddie replied. "Who are they?"

"The shadows." Perenna said chuckling and pointed at the girl beside her. "My shadow Serenity," Then she pointed at the blue-haired girl, "Liz's shadow Blair."

"Aw, the notorious shadow day. I remember volunteering for that." Eddie replied.

Perenna raised her brow. "You should since wasn't _I_ your shadow?" she questioned ruefully.

"Yes, Perry, you were." Eddie said in a slightly patronizing tone.

Serenity and Blair exchanged looks. "How did you two meet?" Blair asked.

Perenna, taking the question at face value, replied honestly. "We've been friends since we were kids, we're practically brother and sister."

Serenity furrowed her brow. "Doesn't that notion make things a little awkward?"

Perenna stared at her charge for the day in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You mean you two aren't…" Blair hesitantly crossed her index and middle finger.

Recognition flashed in Perenna's eyes and she smiled bashfully. "Of course not. Eddie here's nothing more than a friend to me."

Again, Blair and Serenity exchanged looks, especially noting the sullen and irritated look that came over the blonde's face at the proclamation.

* * *

><p>"Well, this day has certainly been interesting." Serenity said ruefully as she and Perenna stood outside the bus to go back to the middle school. "But also makes me think that this place may not be all bad, bullies aside."<p>

Perenna smiled sardonically at the girl. "I'll see you next year here then?"

"Who says it has to be next year?" Serenity asked shyly.

"What do you mean?" Perenna asked tilting her head.

"I mean, I may just be 13, but do you want to hang out sometime? Maybe this weekend?" Serenity asked hopefully.

Perenna stared at the girl, and decided that just turning her down would be cruel seeing as she wanted to be friends. "Sure, we can meet here, mutual ground and such, at 1:00 pm, then we can go from there; how's that?"

Serenity smiled as she got onto the bus steps. "That'd be great."

Perenna turned away. "Great." She parroted and walked back up to the school, pushing the door rail back to let herself in, only to stare at the rail in confusion as her hand refused to let go.

Perenna tugged her hand and scowled. Had someone put glue on the rail again? She tugged harder and a creak sounded before the rail came free. She stared in shock at the now detached rail that she had ripped off from the door. Perenna looked around to make sure no one had seen that before using her other hand to rip the rail off her hand.

She tossed the rail into the garbage been and looked around once more to make sure no one had seen her do that. She could hardly believe she had done that herself; perhaps the rail was just loose?

That seemed more reasonable to believe than that she had just displayed a burst of unexplainable strength.

Perenna looked at her hands and tried to brush aside the unease that formed in her stomach as her eyes stared at the pale white patches on her fingertips again.


	5. Blood Night prt 1

A/N: I own nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Blood Night prt 1<strong>

Though Perenna wasn't a big fan of football, she had cheered all the same when Eddie's team won the game, and had given him hug, genuinely oblivious to the fact their frequent displays of public affection had already started rumors that had yet to reach the girl's ears.

How she had remained unaware was due to blithe naïveté on her part and having little interest in school gossip.

Perenna was currently waiting outside the boy's locker room as her blond friend had told her he was going to drive her home. She had closed her eyes for a brief moment before she was hit with freezing cold water. She let out a gasp and shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Perenna looked over and saw Flash standing there holding the now empty water jug that the players had been drinking. "You looked like you could use a drink!" he laughed.

The brunette gritted her teeth, her face turning slightly rosy because of the cold water as her body attempted to heat itself up. She stalked over to the jock, glaring all the way. "Real funny." She spat sarcastically. "Tell me, do you really enjoy tormenting me so much you'd stoop so low to throw freezing damn water at me-oh wait, you already did you jackass!" she hissed.

"What did just call me, _nerd_?" Flash retorted, no longer laughing.

"I called you a jackass!" Perenna repeated angrily. "And why don't you pick on someone your _own_ size."

"What are you gonna do about it, sick your boyfriend on me?" Flash taunted.

Perenna scowled. "I don't have a boyfriend." She said waspishly. "And even if I did, I wouldn't let some guy fight my battles for me, unlike you, who needs an audience."

"There's no one here now." Flash pointed out smugly. "Besides, this was just for-"

"What's going on?"

Perenna looked back at her blond friend who came out of the locker room and was looking at Perenna's soaked form and the jug Flash was holding. The brunette glared at the blond bully before turning on her heel dismissively. "Nothing, Eddie, I just wanna go home and get changed."

"Well, put this on, you're gonna be freezing outside." Eddie said handing Perenna his letterman jacket.

Perenna put it on and smiled. "Thanks." She said as she closed it around herself and they both headed outside to the blonde's car. When they got into the vehicle, the heater was turned up to make sure Perenna didn't freeze.

"Good game. You won again." She started off.

"See, you _are_ lucky." Eddie replied smugly.

Perenna smirked and shook her head. "If I was lucky, then I'd be able to get a date."

"Oh, you haven't heard have you?" The blond asked amused.

"Heard what?" Perenna questioned tilting her head.

"That you and I are apparently dating."

Perenna stared at Eddie in disbelief. "Are you serious? Everyone thinks that? _Why?_"

"I think it has something to do with the fact you're always hugging me in public." Eddie replied dryly.

Perenna shook her head again, this time in disbelief. "That's strange-that people could jump to conclusions like that, not the idea of going out with you." She added hastily to makes sure she wasn't being insulting. "Besides, it probably wouldn't work out."

"What? Why not?" The blond questioned.

Perenna gave him a look. "Eddie, I'm _15_." She emphasized. "And you're _18_. If we'd already been going out we'd have to break up soon anyway."

"I suppose you have a point." Eddie admitted grudgingly. "What if we _broke_ _up_ at school on Friday to show we're _not_ going out?"

Perenna furrowed her brow in thought. "That sounds good, but why not tomorrow?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe I could take you on a _real_ date, even if only this one time." The blond replied with a slight smile, trying to be nonchalant about how much he wanted her to agree to this.

Perenna thought it over internally. She'd honestly never saw Eddie as more than just a brother-figure, but the idea of being out on a date, probably the only date she'd have a chance of getting with her luck, made her feel giddy. "Sure." She agreed. "Tomorrow we can go out, then we can pretend to break up from our rumor-started relationship." She said dryly.

The car stopped in front of her house, the small moving fan in front made Perenna pause for a moment before she brushed it off. She patted her friend on the shoulder before going into the house. She knew dinner wouldn't be made for another hour or so, and she found her aunt and uncle watching television.

While she was thinking of some way to tell them about the fact she was going on her first date the next day, Aunt May noticed her first. "Perenna, did you see the moving van next door?"

Perenna nodded. "Did your friend Anna move out?" she asked tilting her head.

Aunt May shook her head. "No, her niece Mary Jane is moving in with her, Anna finally wrestled custody of the poor dear."

Perenna knew better than to ask what she meant. She _knew_ she wouldn't like the answer though, so she settled for a safer question. "Oh, how old is Mary Jane?"

"Your age." Aunt May replied. "She'll be going to your school in fact next week."

"Oh, it'll be nice to know someone else I know going to the same school." Perenna said lightly, and then decided to broach the subject she wanted to talk about. "Uh, and speaking of people I know. You know Eddie right, kid that I practically grew up with? Well, he wants to talk me out on a date tomorrow."

The words hadn't even fully left Perenna's mouth before Uncle Ben was already on his feet. "What? A date?" he repeated. "Perenna, you're 15, you're too young to think about dating, not to mention that boy's too old to date _you_."

Perenna wanted to let out a sigh; she knew she'd have to deal with an overprotective uncle, though she hoped her case would make him reconsider getting the shotgun out. "Hear me out first. Eddie's been with me since…forever really. You had no problem when he would come over here for sleepovers. You should give him more credit."

"There's also a _reason_ we said he couldn't sleep over anymore when you turned 13." Uncle Ben muttered. "Look, I know Eddie's a good kid, but he's just a bit too old for you, and I'm sure that you and him dating is illegal."

Perenna was ready to start pulling her hair out in frustration, and the worst part was that her uncle was _right_ about it being illegal…if they _did_ anything that was. Which they _wouldn't_ do.

Aunt May then came to her rescue. "Now, Ben, we can trust Eddie, because like Perenna said, they practically grew up together. He'd never make her do anything she didn't want to do."

Perenna sent her aunt a grateful look and looked hopefully at her uncle, who after a moment, grumbled out an 'oh alright.' She resisted the urge to 'whoop' as it were and the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." She said and opened the door, her eyes widening in surprise as she stared a very attractive red-haired girl that was a bit taller than her. _'Wow_. She thought blushing.

The girl's eyes glinted playfully. "Hello there." She said and upon noticing the girl's blush, winked.

Perenna's blush deepened. "Hi." She mumbled back.

Aunt May once again came to her rescue. "Hello Mary Jane." She said cordially. "Perenna, this is Mary Jane Watson. Mary Jane, this is my niece Perenna." She said gesturing to the blushing girl. "Would you like to come in, Mary Jane?"

"That would be nice, Mrs. Parker." The red-haired girl said politely and stepped into the house. "Aunt Anna _said_ you had a niece that was my age that I could hang out with."

"Run along then you two and get acquainted with one another." Aunt May encouraged and the two girls somewhat awkwardly went upstairs to Perenna's room. "But keep the door open!"

Perenna's face flushed a deep red and she dashed upstairs while Mary Jane chuckled and followed at a more leisurely pace. The brunette was found sitting on her bed with her face in her hands. "That was so embarrassing." Perenna muttered.

Mary Jane smiled humorously at her and then noticed the alignment Perenna's window had with the one next door. "Hey, your window is right across from mine."

Curious, Perenna got up from the bed and looked out. "Really?" she asked nonchalantly. "That's…strange."

"That our windows are right across from one another? Yeah, it is strange." Mary Jane agreed before moving away from the window. "So what's Midtown like?"

"Oh, just like any regular old high school really." Perenna shrugged as she leaned her hands and back against the window pane. "Got your jerk jocks and cheerleaders picking on the smart kids."

"And which one are you?" Mary Jane asked tilting her head. "No wait, let me guess. You're…a cheerleader!" Perenna balked at that. "No? Then you must be a brain."

"That's probably the nicest name for 'nerd' that anyone's ever called me." Perenna replied dryly. "You know something funny? Our names are sort of plant related." She mused.

Mary Jane smiled lopsidedly. "Yeah, mine's slag for marijuana and yours is another name for 'plants coming back to life every year.'"

"That's…" Perenna shook her head at the logic and grinned slightly. "_You're_ the funny one apparently. My jokes suck don't they?"

"Aw I wouldn't say that, maybe you just need some proper motivation." Mary Jane suggested.

Perenna raised a brow. "Like what?" she asked waving one of her hands nonchalantly out the window, but a white flash of something in the corner of her eye made her look outside. She worriedly looked over at the red-haired girl. "Did you happen to see anything go by?"

"No, why?" Mary Jane asked curiously.

Perenna was about to explain, but thought better of it; it might have been just nothing after all. "Never mind, it was probably nothing."

"By the way," Mary Jane said suddenly, "why are you all wet?"

Perenna stared at her somewhat flatly. "Because the bane of my existence _thought_ it would be funny to throw icy cold water on me."

"Ah." Mary Jane nodded. "I see. I guess it'll be a new experience for me then, getting teased." She said somewhat mockingly.

Perenna snorted. "Like you'll get teased, they won't go after you I you're around me that's for sure."

Mary Jane raised a brow. "Then I guess I better stick around you."

Perenna rolled her eyes before pulling her hoodie off. "Yeah, you do that." She replied smirking. "I gotta go wash my hoodie."

"You have a washer here? Great, then I'll know where to go if Aunt Anna's washer breaks down." Mary Jane said smirking back at the brunette.

Perenna shook her head in amusement. "_If_ you're allowed to use our washer." She corrected playfully.

* * *

><p>"Uh-oh." Harry muttered.<p>

Perenna looked at her from the side of her locker door. "What do you mean, uh-" he eyes widened as the scene slowed down and her vision spun to include a 360 degree angle, seeing all the things the other students were doing, but the thing that caught her attention was the fact Flash was about to smash his fist into her head.

She moved to the side quickly and Flash banged right into the open locker, hitting his head on the top of it in the process and stumbled back. He turned around and glared at her, clutching his forehead. "You're in for it now!" he snapped.

"What is this even about?" Perenna questioned in confusion as never before had the bullying escalated to violence and even his friends were thinking that this was undeserved.

"Dude, you can't hit a girl, that ain't cool." Kenny said in reproach.

"It's not a girl, it's _Parker_." Flash retorted and Perenna glowered at him.

"Just leave Perry alone Flash; what has she ever done to you?" Harry questioned as he stood in front of his friend.

"Stay out this, Osborn or you'll be going to the nurse's office along with her." Flash replied pushing Harry out of his way.

In a quick action, Perenna grabbed a hold of the blonde's arm as she glared at him, her grip steadily getting tighter. "You can bug me all you want, but don't you dare mess with my _friends_." There was an audible cracking sound and the blonde let out a pain-filled shout.

Perenna let go and backed in away in shock as Flash's friends crowded around him, Sally looking back at her with a scornful expression. "You really _are_ a freak, Parker." She spat.

Perenna looked down at her hand in horror, she hadn't meant to do that, she had only been angry. What was happening to her? Perenna ran from the hall and out the school, not stopping until she was leaning against the alleyway at the side of the school.

Questions began flooding into her mind, asking how she could have seen that Flash was about to hit her, or how she'd probably broken his arm. She had just meant to try and make him back off, she hadn't _meant_ to hurt him.

Perenna put one of her hands on the brick wall and her eyes caught sight of the spot where the spider had bitten her. She stared at it and everything seemed to click in her mind.

Her vision had cleared up after getting bitten. She seemed to gain freakish amounts of strength after getting bitten. She'd gotten a hot new body after getting bitten. And she'd bet that the white stuff had also been from the bite.

From a _spider_ bite. Was she like...like a spider _woman_ now? _'Wait,_' Perenna thought,_ 'there's already a Spider-Woman, I'm more like a spider…_girl.' She added and stared at both hands this time, an idea forming in her mind.

If she had gained spider powers, then could that also mean she could…

Perenna stared from her hands to the wall and placed both hands on it. She hesitantly tried to climb up, and to her immense surprise…she wasn't falling on her butt. She climbed a few more paces before looking down to make sure she was actually off the ground.

She was.

Perenna climbed back down and once her feet were back on the ground, she looked at the pale patches on her fingertips. She nonchalantly tried to make it work like she had apparently done at home, but nothing happened.

Perenna pouted and was about to try again when she heard someone shout, "Perry, there you are!"

The brunette girl looked up to see Harry running over to her, carrying his and her packs. "Oh, uh, hi."

"Perry, how the hell did you _do_ that?" Harry questioned and for a second, Perenna thought he'd seen her climb the wall.

"Do what?" she cautiously asked.

"Manage to break Flash's arm." Harry answered.

Perenna felt another stab of guilt. "It was just an accident, he made me mad, that's all."

"Remind me to never make you angry then." Harry quipped and handed the girl her pack. "It was kinda strange though, seeing you mad."

_'You should have seen me yesterday then_.' Perenna thought dryly. "Good thing it's the end of the week, 'cause I don't think I could have faced anyone after the episode in the hall. How's Flash anyway?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "He keeps exaggerating how painful it is, even though he's basically admitting that he got beaten up by a girl; though he went to the hospital in an ambulance."

"Huh." Perenna hummed thoughtfully. "I better be heading home, 'cause I just _know_ that this is gonna bite me in the ass somehow."

"Then why don't I offer you a drive home?" Harry offered politely.

Perenna smiled. "Well, I never rode in a limo before." She said sardonically and followed after her friend. The limo pulled up and Harry opened the back door, only to balk.

"Dad!" Perenna blinked at the tone Harry used in surprise. Her friend sounded worried and he looked back over his shoulder at her. "Maybe you should catch the bus." He said amending his earlier offer, looking very desperate for her to take up the suggestion.

Before she could answer though, a deep, older voice spoke. "Nonsense boy, there's plenty of room."

Harry paled, but lowered his eyes. "Yes, dad." He said quietly and gestured for Perenna to come in after he got into the back.

When Perenna got in, she saw a man sitting on the opposite side of the car and looked like an older version of her friend and he was staring at her shrewdly. It made her slightly uncomfortable. "Hello Mr. Osborn, I'm Harry's friend, Perenna Parker."

There was the briefest flash of surprise in the older man's eyes before it was gone. "Perry? Harry had never mentioned that you were a _girl_." He said giving his son a look that wasn't at all nice.

Perenna quickly thought up an excuse. "Harry probably just forgot to mention it." She offered quietly.

Osborn turned his piercing gaze to her. "He did though tell me that you were number one in your school."

"Yeah, she's gotten A's on all the science tests, and helped me through middle and high school so far." Harry added, before cringing back into his seat.

"Really?" Osborn leaned forward slightly. "I wonder now why I haven't met you before, Parker." He gave his son another scathing look.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in meeting my friends." Harry muttered. "And you were always busy whenever Perry would come over that we didn't want to disturb you."

Perenna wondered how much of the lie-most of it anyway-Osborn bought. Not much apparently if his narrowing eyes were any indication. She deliberately made an offhand gesture to the door as the limo stopped in front of her house. "Oh, I'm home. I better head on inside, nice to meet you Mr. Osborn, and I'll see you at school on Monday, Harry." She said stepping out of the car and walked a little too briskly up to the door.

She let out a deep sigh once she was behind the closed door. Now she knew why Harry had never wanted her to meet his dad. She made her way upstairs to prepare for her date, though there was no reason she couldn't try and get used to her powers beforehand.

Especially the webbing.


	6. Blood Night prt 2

A/N: I own nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Blood Night prt 2<strong>

The silence in the living room made the blond sitting in the chair rather uncomfortable. Perenna was still upstairs and he felt like he was being sized up by a man he'd known since he was a kid. Then again, that was probably _why_ he was being treated like this. He'd known them for so long that they wanted to make sure he wouldn't be a 'typical male.'

"We've known you since you were a child, Eddie, now why the sudden interest in Perenna?" Uncle Ben asked with an unreadable expression.

Sudden interest? Clearly it wasn't just Perenna that hadn't noticed his attraction. "Uh, she'd my friend, and, uh, I just thought that we could go out." He replied nervously.

There was a thud upstairs before Perenna came running down in a regular pair of jeans and a tight long-sleeved shirt. She had let her hair down and a headband kept the bangs parted from the rest of her hair, the two locks of hair framing her face.

"You look h…" Eddie saw the look on Uncle Ben's face and revised his statement. "Uh, very nice."

"Thank you." Perenna replied smiling. She saw how her friend was starting to wither under her uncle's gaze and decided to rescue him. "Uh, let's go, Eddie." She said pulling her friend to the door and looked back. "Be back by curfew!" she called and shut the door. "Sorry about that, bro."

"It's okay, your uncle's just worried for you." Eddie replied. "And I really don't blame him."

Perenna blushed. "You do know that compliments aren't necessary, right?"

"I know, but I just wanted to." The blond replied seriously. "And, this _is_ supposed to be a real date, isn't it?"

"Yes, I know it is, probably the only date I'm going to have for a while." Perenna groused. "And since the mishap at school earlier I don't think anyone will come within three feet of me."

"What happened earlier?" The blond asked furrowing his brow.

"You didn't hear?" Perenna drawled. "I apparently broke Flash's arm."

"You did?" Eddie questioned, and his expression darkened. "What did he do to you?"

"He was gonna beat me up; Harry stepped in and I broke Flash's arm. It was an accident as I never _meant_ to, just trying to get him to leave me alone." Perenna answered grouchily, then she brushed off her grim attitude. "Let's stop with this subject and just enjoy our date, alright?"

Deciding to do just that to avoid the awkwardness of the subject on _how_ Perenna would have been able to break the bully's arm, the blond drove down the street and they arrived at the movie theater and while Eddie had gone to get the tickets, Perenna had gotten in line at the concession stand.

The line trailed on and after she'd gotten their food, and walked into the movie that they were seeing. It was a movie from a trailer she'd seen on the television for the _Captain America_ movie. She's seen the other re-enactments reviewed on the internet shows she liked watching and hoped _this_ re-enactment was better received than those were, as before she'd never even _knew_ there had been other movies.

She'd also wanted to see this movie as the Captain was her childhood idol, what she aspired to be-only, female.

Perenna had seen how the Fantastic Four had a movie were made of them, though she'd never seen the movie. That was because a bunch of Doombots had stolen the film after it had been in the theatre only for a few months. That didn't stop _other_ copies from being shown though, and even then she didn't want to risk seeing the movie.

She idly wondered what would happen when the _sequel_ came out into theatres though.

* * *

><p>"What did you think of the movie?" Perenna asked as she finished up her popcorn on the drive back to her house.<p>

"It was good, I heard you talking about wanting to see it so I got the tickets for it." Eddie replied.

"Aw, how sweet." Perenna cooed. "If you'd asked me out when we were younger I would have totally said yes." She said and looked dreamily out the window.

She missed the way Eddie's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Just glad you had a great time."

Perenna looked back at him with a smile before she saw her house approaching and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Thanks for taking me out tonight."

"Just so long as you don't hit me when we 'break up' on Monday." Eddie replied.

Perenna grinned back at him after closing the door. "I make no promises." She said cheekily and unlocked the door to her home. After a quick talk with her aunt and uncle about the nice time she had, she went upstairs and was about to close the curtains on her window when she saw a certain redhead sitting at a desk, and she could hear faint words coming from her room. "Hey, MJ."

The redhead looked up startled before she opened the window. "Hi Perry. But MJ, seriously?"

Perenna opened her own window and leaned on the pane. "What, it's cute isn't it?"

MJ copied the gesture. "I suppose so."

"Look, I know it's sudden and all, what with you just moving in, but would you like to hang out tomorrow?" Perenna asked blushing and she saw the redhead raise a brow; making her feel the need to elaborate. "It's just that I'm already going to hang out with someone and thought we could make our duo a trio."

MJ placed a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, sounds like fun; if you see me sitting outside at…"

"1 pm." Perenna supplied.

"…1 pm then you'll know I can go with you." Mary Jane finished.

"Great." Perenna murmured and then asked bashfully, "What are you doing know?"

"I'm just watching episodes of the _Nostalgia Chick_." MJ replied shrugging.

Perenna's brows knitted together. "What's that?"

* * *

><p>The next day, Perenna came down stairs in her winter coat and found her aunt and uncle looking worriedly at a letter, causing her to look at the clock to make sure it was 1. It was. "Is something wrong?"<p>

"Perenna, do you know why we're getting a hospital bill charged to us for 1 thousand dollars from the Thompsons?" Uncle Ben asked sternly.

Perenna just _knew_ what she'd done the previous day had come back to bite her. "Well, you see; I kinda broke Flash's arm-but he started it!"

"Well from the looks of this bill you certainly finished it." Uncle Ben remarked. "Perenna, what have I always taught you?"

Perenna reframed from sighing. She'd heard the saying all her life, and while she'd always appreciate the value it had, it got a bit tedious at times. "With great power comes great responsibility. But he really did start it by trying to beat me up. Harry stopped him and I _accidently_ broke Flash's arm, I didn't mean to do it, I just wanted him to leave me alone."

"Perenna, beating others up is not the way to solve anything; there are other ways to handle a problem." Uncle Ben said wisely.

Perenna lowered her eyes. "I know, Uncle Ben." She said in a more subdued manner. "But can I still go out?"

"You can, but don't think we're not going to have a talk about this later." Aunt May said sternly.

"I understand." Perenna said softly and headed outside.

"Why the long face, Perry?"

Perenna blinked and looked over to see MJ sitting on the steps of her aunt's house. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said managing to make her face a little less morose.

"Alright then." Mary Jane shrugged and stood up, straightening her coat in the process. "Let's go pick up our third member." The duo headed to the bus stop and after a ride to the school, MJ looked at the building in confusion. "She lives at the school?"

Perenna couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her. "No, we didn't know where the other lived, so I told her to meet me here….there she is. Serenity!"

The auburn-haired girl looked over at them, jumping a bit before relaxing. She wore a tan winter coat and her hair was all bunched up into the hat on her head, but a few locks fell through the bottom. "Hi." She said shyly and looked over at the redhead. "Hello, I'm Serenity."

"Mary Jane." The redhead said.

"Where are we going to now?" Perenna questioned to herself.

MJ answered though. "We could go to the theatre, no, I know! Let's go to the mall!" She said pulling both Serenity and Perenna along with her back to the bus stop. "I haven't been to the mall for _weeks_."

Serenity's face flushed as she was dragged along like a child with an overexcited sibling or parent, while Perenna blushed because she still found the redhead attractive. After another trip on the bus, they arrived at one of the New York department malls.

They agreed to head over to the food court first and as they passed the bulletin board, Perenna saw the words '3 thousand grand prize' for the amateur female wrestling league tournament. She saw the date was today and thought _'Well that's convenient' _and looked for where it was being held, the crazy thought of entering the tournament going through her head.

"Hey, Perenna? You alright?"

Perenna looked away from the poster and down at the 13 year old. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Serenity looked at her dubiously. "If you're sure…"

Perenna gently moved the younger girl along to the table MJ was seated at. "Really, I'm fine."

* * *

><p>'<em>I can't believe I'm gonna do this.<em>' Perenna thought shouldering her pack and headed back downstairs.

She had come home not barely two hours ago and hauled herself up in her room to put together a costume to fight in, stopping several times because of how stupid the idea of _her_ wrestling sounded before she blocked the doubtful thoughts out with the fact if she could win enough money to pay for the hospital bill. She'd seen prizes for second and third prize, and she only had to push herself enough to win either of those.

"I'm going to the Downtown library." She announced.

"Wait a minute." Aunt May called just as Perenna was about to head out the door. "We still have to have a talk." She added sternly.

"Can we have it in the car? Or tomorrow perhaps?" Perenna tried.

"Nice try, we'll have it in the car." Aunt May replied and picked up her keys. "Well, go on then."

"You know I was kidding, right? You don't have to drive me-" Perenna tried to protest.

"I do and will take you to the library." Aunt May said. Perenna gave up trying to change her aunt's mind and got into the car. "Now, I know how hard it is to be a teenage girl, you go through things boys don't even feel comfortable talking about, I know I did." She started off. "Was there really no other option than to…break this boy's arm? Like tell a teacher, or you're principal maybe?"

"It was an accident; I thought I already said that?" Perenna retorted and saw her Aunt give her a look. "Sorry, it's just that…he really did deserve to get a taste of his own medicine." She said darkly.

"You know what they saw about revenge, Perenna." Aunt May warned her.

"I know." Perenna replied and the drive down town was ridden in silence.

When Aunt May stopped her niece from getting out, she said, "You know you can always talk with me if you have something on your mind, right?"

_'I've gained spider powers and I'm here to fight in a wrestling tournament._' Perenna thought, but instead just repeated her, "I know" and got out of the car.

"I'll be back at 10 pm, okay?" Aunt May asked.

"Alright." Perenna replied and watched the car drive away before going across the street and into the underground building to enter a wide expanse frilled with female wrestlers wearing flashy costumes. She found a room on the side to change in filled with other costumes on racks. She pulled out the black shirt with the spider logo she'd stitched onto the front and suddenly felt stupid again.

"You're not really gonna fight in that, are ya?" A female southern accent questioned.

On default, Perenna blushed even before she turned around to look at a woman wearing a pink and white leotard designed in a western style, a white 10 gallon hat, long frilled white leather gloves, long pink cowboy boots, a pink domino mask, and had a rope at her hip.

Perenna looked down at the black piece of clothing she was going to change into. "What's wrong with this?"

The woman shook her head. "Nah, you can't go out there wearing _that_. People will wonder if the sponsors are cheating by lettin' a man in." she said derisively. "What you need is something a lot bright and less bland."

"And where am I going to get a new costume so quickly?" Perenna questioned sarcastically.

The woman spread out her arms. "Look around, honey; there everywhere. Why do think there are so many costumes here?"

Perenna looked at the racks of bright and flashy outfits and had to wonder. "Why are you helping me? Are _you_ one of the competitors?" she asked suspiciously.

The woman smirked at her. "I'm just that nice of a person, honey." She said and turned to the costume line beside her. "Now what's your name?"

"Pe-"

The woman held up her hand. "Not interested in you _real_ name, I meant your _stage_ name. Mine's Cowgirl."

"I can see that." Perenna retorted and figured she should pick a name that themed of what she was going to represent. "I'm Spider-Girl."

"Not woman?" Cowgirl asked in amusement and Perenna shook her head. "Alright then." She added and turned her attention back to the costumes, tossing them aside until she pulled out a red and blue spandex costume with a black spider on the center of the chest, and red and blue patterns being separated on it by the black web lines coming from the spider symbol and the same black web lines going down the sleeves, one being red and the other blue. "Here, go try this on."

Perenna warily took the costume and went over to the changing booth in the corner. Hastily changing out of her street clothes, she put the outfit on, and admired herself in the mirror. She did have to admit she looked good. The shoulders were bare, and the 'boots' were detailed to look like she was wearing ballet slippers as well.

She looked at the gloves for a moment, thinking something was wrong with them, before tearing the finger parts off at the middle, and then put the gloves on, letting the fingers show in case she needed to use her webbing. She put the red mask lined with the same black web lines as the sleeves, chest and neck, being little more than a wide strip of fabric that went around her head and covered her eyes.

She was surprised to find she could see through the white eye lenses just fine and she gathered up her clothes and put them into her pack. She walked out the booth to find that Cowgirl was still in the room. "Uh, this doesn't make me look stupid, does it?" she asked bashfully.

The woman whistled. "Not at all." She replied walking over. "Though there's something wrong…wait, I know what it is." She said and pulled Perenna's ponytail out of its rubber band and the brown locks of hair hit her bare shoulders. "There, much better."

Perenna flattened her hair down and put her pack over her shoulder. "Thanks." She said before going to register and afterwards she stood out in the backstage but still out of view as she watched the other matches commence.

She noticed that most of the wrestlers were part of a group called the 'Grapplers' and when it was finally her turn the opponent she was facing was also a Grappler called 'Screaming Mimi.' As she walked down the runway to the ring, she made note that despite the strange pink hair dye job her opponent had, not to underestimate her.

Both wrestlers stood off to each side and waited for the bell to ding. And when it did, Mimi let out a sonic scream that made Spider-Girl clutch her ears. When she was disoriented, the pink-haired woman tackled her to the floor and pinned her down.

"You should have stayed home and left this to the big girls." Mimi smirked.

Spider-Girl scowled and head-butted the woman, causing her to flinch back and she was able to knock the woman off her. "Now who should have stayed home?" she snarked.

Screaming Mimi opened her mouth again to let loose another sonic scream, but Spider-Girl held out her hand and webbing shot from her fingertips to shut Mimi's mouth. She followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent the woman colliding into the ring side and Spider-Girl pinned the woman to the arena floor as the bell rung again and she was declared the winner.

As Spider-Girl got off the woman she felt like it had been a little _too_ easy to win, the ringing from the sonic screams still sounding in her head notwithstanding.

* * *

><p>Spider-Girl watched the other matches, and periodically she had one of her own matches, those she'd won, but during the last one, her webbing had been used against her. That action had made her think that the other wrestlers were starting to take her more seriously and stop underestimating her.<p>

She had mixed reactions to this. One the one hand, she was being taken more seriously than just being seen as some amateur who had been allowed to enter as a joke; on the other hand, this also meant that any upcoming matches she had would _also_ be taken seriously and her opponent wouldn't be unwilling to hurt her to keep her down.

She watched as the combatants were whittled down to only a few, just enough to advance to the final rounds, with her being one of them, the one to knock out the opponent in this current match would have made it an even three, with the winner of the match facing her.

Spider-Girl winced as the woman with the axes brought down the handle of one axe onto her opponent's head and they dropped to the ground, unconscious, but alive. She grimaced and felt the first waves of nerves come up, especially as she walked down the runway.

Once the bell dinged, the other woman by the name of Battleaxe tried to, well, _axe_ her and Spider-Girl dodged before webbing the woman's feet to the ground and the woman fell flat on her face. She tried to disarm the woman, but the woman grabbed her foot and tripped her up, before cutting the webbing off and climbed into onto the ring corner and tried to body slammed the girl, but she lifted up her legs and sent Battleaxe over her and into the other side of the ring.

"You little bitch!" Battleaxe snarled and threw one of her axes at the girl.

Spider-Girl moved and the axe was embedded into the arena floor, then she kicked the older woman in the jaw before smashing the woman into the floor, out cold. Her shoulders heaved as she breathed heavily and the announcer announced that she was going onto the final round to fight Titania. She made her way over to the ring side to have a quick rest as the medical personal lifted Battleaxe out of the ring on a stretcher and retrieved her axes as well.

There was a brief moment of the ropes of the ringside before Spider-Girl looked up to see that a tall woman had entered the ring. She felt nerves set in again and felt the need to run away as the woman looked at her in contempt, but when _hadn't_ she gotten that look?

"You should quit while your ahead and take the second place money. There's no shame in that." The woman said after a moment. "You've proven that you're good, now go home."

Spider-Girl shook her head. "I can't, second place doesn't have enough of the money I need."

Titania actually looked at her in pity for a second before her face hardened. "Then so be it." She said as the bell rung and immediately tried to tackle the smaller girl, only for Spider-Girl to deftly move out of the way and tried to web the woman, though Titania turned around and grabbed the web, throwing the girl into the arena floor.

_Hard_.

Spider-Girl felt her body aching and felt herself get picked up roughly and only to get tossed into the floor again. She rolled over onto her back to see Titania try and body slam her, so her continued to roll and got back to her feet. The older woman though tripped her up again and pinned her down.

She tried to get up, but because of her aches and smaller stature, she couldn't move the woman off her and helplessly resigned to the fact the referee counting down to 10.

_"Winner! Titaniaaa!" _

Spider-Girl let her head hit the floor as the woman got off of her and held her arms up in triumph.

* * *

><p>Perenna was still wearing her costume when she went to collect her money, bitterly taking the 500 dollars and heading out of the office, passing a bleach blond man on the way out. She headed to the room where she'd left her pack in and it just happened to be where the exit was.<p>

She heard the door opening to the office she'd come out of and saw the blond man and ran out carrying a sack and another man came running out that had given her the money. "Stop that man!"

Perenna ignored the man and walked into the costume room, thinking that it wasn't her problem. Also because she was bitter and feeling snubbed. She grabbed her pack and took out her clothing, and was about to go over to the changing room when she saw Cowgirl in the room again and applying makeup over a developing bruise on her cheek.

"Where do I put this after I change out of it?" she asked and the woman looked over at her briefly.

"No one's gonna notice it's gone, just take it." Cowgirl said.

Perenna stared at the woman for a second. "Ya sure? I don't want any trouble…"

"No trouble, I know the sponsor and she doesn't care if a few of the wrestlers take the costumes." Cowgirl replied. "It just means that there'll be more people interested in wrestling, that's all."

Perenna stared down at the costume and nodded. "Uh, sure then." She replied and put her street clothes on over it, deciding to change out of her costume at home. "Uh, thanks for your help."

"No problem." Cowgirl replied offhandedly. "Though don't feel bad about losing to Titania, it's probably better that you didn't win; wouldn't want to see your guts being cleaned off the ring floor if you _did_ beat her."

Perenna looked over at the woman and thought better of retorting in her usual quips as Cowgirl had been rather helpful. "Good to know." She said and filed it away for future reference. She left the room and took off her mask, opting to keep her hair down and put the mask in her pants pocket.

She walked out of the building and headed over to the place she was supposed to meet her aunt. She headed down the street to where the library was and saw an ambulance pass by her, a knot starting to form in her stomach as she saw it turn the corner. She started sprinting down the street and when she ran around the corner, she saw a group of people standing in a circle and her heart clenched.

She pushed her way through the group of people and her breath hitched as soon as she saw who-_two_ who's-was on the ground. "No, no, no, no. Aunt May, Uncle Ben." She exclaimed and dropped to the ground and she felt her eyes beginning to blur. "What happened?" she questioned and was about to try and see if they were still alive when the policeman near her pulled her away, even though she tried to fight out of his grip.

"Carjacker, they were shot." The man said.

"Sir, we got a lock on the carjacker. Heading North." Another police officer said.

Perenna pulled away from the officer as she quickly wiped at her eyes and taking one last look at her guardian's bodies, she took off toward an alley. She shed her clothing to reveal the blue and red costume underneath and pulled on her mask, jumping onto the wall and climbing over it, shooting her webbing and headed in the northern direction.

She was a little wobbly when trying to swing from building to people, but after a few tries she managed to keep her 'balance' so to speak. She found the police chasing her uncle's Oldsmobile so she thought that her aunt and uncle had taken her uncle's car. She followed the Oldsmobile even as the police lost it for a bit and after the car drove into an abandoned warehouse.

The man got out of the car and ran into the warehouse, Spider-Girl swinging in silently on the upper level. She crept around to find him and used her spider sense to avoid the shots he took at her shadow. She moved around him and got the drop on him when she knocked the gun out of his hand.

He whirled around and Spider-Girl punched the man in the face, knocking him back against the window, causing it to rattle. Spider-Girl heard the sirens outside and grabbed a hold of him, lifting him off the ground. She would have questioned this, but her in her rage she could care less and started punching him in the face. "You killed them!" she snarled and shoved him through the window, though kept the grip she had on his shirt.

"Please, please! Don't kill me, just give me a chance!" The man pleaded and in the light of the spotlight that passed over them, the face she saw almost made her drop the guy.

"It's you." Spider-Girl whispered to herself as she looked at the man's features and hair fitting the man she'd let run out of the wrestling arena because she'd been a selfish, vindictive, bitch. Her guardians, her second parents, were most likely dead because she'd been bitter about placing second in a wrestling tournament she'd lied to her aunt about.

This was all her fault.

Spider-Girl's grip tightened on the man's shirt. "You're going to get what you deserve." She said darkly before webbing him up and letting him hang in a cocoon on the side of the wall. "But it won't be from me." She said turning away from the window and deftly leaving the warehouse as the police arrived.

Spider-Girl sat on the roof of a nearby building and pulled her knees on up to her chest and cried. _'This is all my fault_.'


	7. Songs Of Solace

A/N: I own nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Songs Of Solace<strong>

Mary Jane saw her aunt come over to her when she came back down without the food she'd taken upstairs. "I left in the spare rooms so if she gets hungry she can eat it."

Anna frowned at this and looked upwards to where the guest room would be located. "Has she said anything?"

Mary Jane shook her head. "No, she didn't even look up when I went in there, just kept staring at the wall." She said and the image of the same brunette she'd seen the previous day was such a stark contrast with the one in the third guest room bed…just staring desolately out at nothing.

"Poor dear." Anna said sympathetically, and MJ realized that her aunt had probably known Perenna as well since she had been May Parker's best friend.

"Have you ever seen her act like this before?" Mary Jane questioned.

Anna looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Once, though it was long ago; when she first started living with May and Ben."

There was a knock at the door and MJ started to head over to it. "I'll get it." She said and her aunt nodded. MJ opened the door to see a frazzled looking redhead, who for a second stared at her in shock before looking panicky again. "Um, hi?"

"Yeah, I'm Harry, Perenna's friend and I tried calling her, but she wouldn't answer her phone." The redhead replied. "The news let it out this morning about what had happened to Perry's aunt and uncle and is there any chance she's here?"

"Yes…though your definition of 'alright' might vary." Mary Jane replied.

Harry frowned in confusion. ""Why? Is there something wrong?" he paused. "Besides the obvious?"

Mary Jane moved back from the door. "You can come in, you've probably known her longer; maybe you can her to snap out of it."

The other redhead's frown deepened. "Alright then." He answered and MJ lead him up the stairs to the third room of the house. He looked around the room and saw a tray sitting on the bedside table, and a form was curled up under the streets of the bed, a head of brown messy hair visibly at the top of the bed. He walked over to the bed and saw his friend's eyes staring vacantly at the wall. "Perry?"

There was no verbal response, but the blank look in her eyes got a little less…dead.

"It's me, Harry." The boy said.

"I know who you are. I'm upset, not stupid." The brunette girl snapped quietly, her eyes flashing in anger before burying her face into the pillow.

"Well, uh, I know you're not stupid." Harry replied nervously, and while the look on MJ's face said that this was the only time Perenna had spoken, he decided to go on. "How are you doing?" There was no answer, but Perenna peeked out from the pillow and she glared at him. "Right, stupid question. Okay, how are you…" he trailed off and paused. "Okay, I got nothing." He said shrugging.

There was no answer, but there was a snort from the form on the bed.

"Don't you know it's not exactly…_healthy_ to be in bed all day." Harry said.

"Of course I know that." Perenna replied quietly. "I also know that if you're here you must have heard about what happened." She continued. "And while I also appreciate that you came here, I promise that I'll be fine, just let me mourn."

Mary Jane knew that despite the fact she hadn't known Perenna that long, she _had_ gathered from the time they had already spent together, that since she'd said her piece she was going to go back to being quiet. "Come on," she said grabbing a hold of Harry's arm, "let's let her mourn then." She said pulling him to the door, but stopped at the doorway. "Just as a reminder though, Perry; there's food for you on the bed side night stand."

Again, no response, but the girl did nod.

"Are you sure she should be left alone?" Harry questioned as they descended the stairs.

"She's grieving, but she won't do anything rash." Mary Jane paused. "Or at least I hope she won't."

That didn't settle Harry's nerves and looked at the older Watson. "'Scuse me ma'am, but do you know what's going to happen to Perry?"

The older woman shook her head. "I have applied for temporary custody of her, but whether she can be allowed to stay here will be up to the courts to decide."

"Oh." Harry looked back up the stairs before looking back at the women. "I guess I better be going then."

"Nice meeting you, though I gotta say I thought it'd be under better circumstances." MJ said.

"I second that." Harry replied absently before he walked out of the house.

Mary Jane looked back up the stairs as well before she herself went to get something to eat.

* * *

><p>The next time MJ went up to check on Perenna, the girl was sitting up and staring blankly out the window, the sandwich having been half eaten. "Perenna?"<p>

"It's my entire fault that they're dead." She said listlessly.

Mary Jane furrowed her brow before she quickly understood what the brunette was talking about. Though instead of saying that it wasn't the girl's fault, as she believed telling her that would be counterproductive to helping her, she instead replied, "And why do you think that it's your fault?"

"I lied to Aunt May about going to the library, to go wrestle and win money to help pay for the hospital bill," Perenna continued, "but I was embittered by the fact I only got second, and hadn't won enough money to pay the bill, so I let the thief that killed them go." She looked over at MJ, her eyes blank.

"How did you know it was the same person?" Mary Jane questioned gently.

"I followed the police and I beat him up." Perenna replied and she paused. "I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill him so badly, but after I saw his face, I saw that it was the one who I let get away, I knocked him out instead."

MJ was silent as she mulled this over. "So you feel guilty." She said finally and tentatively sat beside Perenna and put an arm around her shoulder.

Perenna didn't move away and let her head rest on the other girl's shoulder. "They would still be alive if I had just found another way to pay the bill. And what's worse is that entering the wrestling tournament was for nothing. I still don't have enough money and my own selfishness cost me my aunt and uncle. I'm all alone now."

The arm around the brunette's shoulder tightened. "No, you're not." MJ replied seriously. "You've still got your friends, and you've got Aunt Anna and me." She added with cheer to try and lighten the mood.

Perenna appeared to be mulling the proclamation over and her eyes gained back some of the previous life that had been there the day before. "Yes, I suppose you could be right." She answered softly. "I'm not alone; after all, Harry had come to see how I was."

"He seemed…nice enough, if a little…spacey." Mary Jane replied.

Perenna didn't respond to that as she wrapped one of her own arms around MJ's shoulder and they sat in a relatively comfortable silence.

* * *

><p>"You look more…restful." Mary Jane commented lightly as Perenna came down stairs to eat breakfast, though she was still wearing the clothes from the previous day, and the day before that. "Though it looks like you also need a shower."<p>

Perenna grimaced. "I just came down to grab something to eat, and then I'm going to take a shower." She said grabbing an apple out of the fridge. "Thank you Miss Watson for allowing me to stay here." She said timidly.

"It's no problem dear." The older woman said patting her on the shoulder.

Perenna nodded as she bit into the apple and after finishing it up, and started to head for the door. "I suppose I should go get some clothes then-"

"Oh, no you don't." MJ said grabbing a hold of Perenna's hand. "Come on, you can borrow some of my clothes." she added pulling Perenna back up the stairs.

"You don't have too, really; I can just go…" The brunette trailed off before she nodded. "Alright, you win." She relented.

MJ smiled at her before letting go of the other girl's hand and dug out of her drawer a dark red shirt with silver etchings of roses on it and blue skinny jeans. "Here, you borrow these."

Perenna took the clothing with no protest and nodded. "Thanks." She said before going into the bathroom. She saw herself in the mirror and she admitted she _did_ look a lot better than she did yesterday. Perhaps it was the cathartic action of getting the guilt off her chest when she talked to MJ?

She pulled the shirt off and stared at the red and blue top half of her costume she hadn't changed out of. She tried not to flinch at the sight, but as she looked at the reflection in the mirror, all the anger and despair came back; the suit suddenly gave her another idea.

A crazy, _strange_ idea…

After showering though, Perenna came out wearing the clothes and her blow-dried hair was once again pulled up into a ponytail. She went back into the room she was staying in before pulling on her coat and put her pack over her shoulder. She made her way downstairs, finding MJ already waiting. "Ready for your first day?" she asked softly.

"You ready to go back to school?" Mary Jane retorted, but there was no cheek in her voice, just genuine concern.

Perenna paused in thought, before nodding. "Yeah, I can go back."

Mary Jane frowned, as the brunette seemed to have purposely avoided _directly_ answering the question, but she didn't push it. "Well, alright then. Though I am curious to see if the building is as large on the inside as looks on the outside."

"We were standing a bit away from the school, but ya, it _does_ look small, doesn't it?" Perenna quipped softly.

MJ smirked as the two of them headed out the door. "See ya, Aunt Anna!"

"Have a nice day girls." Anna called back.

Perenna closed the door behind her and the two girls headed down the street to the bus stop. When the bus came and they got on it, Perenna noticed that her blond friend hadn't stopped by her house, and since Harry knew enough to try the neighbours about asking if they knew where she was, it made her wonder if her older friend had also stopped by when she had been asleep.

"Hey MJ, did a tall blond guy with muscles happen to stop by yesterday?" she asked when they took their seats.

Mary Jane raised a brow. "No, why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just thinking that if Harry had stopped by your aunt's house to ask if she'd seen me, then I maybe my other friend might have done the same." Perenna answered. "But I guess not." She shrugged.

"Let me get this straight, you have two guy friends…and not one of them is your boyfriend?" Mary Jane asked with surprise in her voice. When Perenna shook her head, her tone turned sly. "Do you have a girlfriend then?" she questioned in a conspiratory whisper.

Perenna blushed before shaking her head. "Not even that." She replied before her thoughts came back to the fact Eddie hadn't shown up. Was he trying to avoid her to sufficiently provoke annoyance to make their 'break up' seem more real? Or was he just _avoiding_ her?

She'd know anyway they arrived at school and when the bus stopped just down the street from the school, the duo walked toward the school. "Just a heads up though, if you hang around with me, it's going to get you heckled too probably."

"Thanks for the warning," Mary Jane replied and put her arm around Perenna's shoulder, "but who I'm friends with is none of their business."

"Friends?" Perenna repeated surprised. "You wanna be friends? With me?"

MJ nodded. "Sure I do, and since you said you have no female friends, I can be your first one." She added winking.

Perenna blushed. "Uh, that's great, MJ." While she really _did_ like her male friends, it got tiring to see them both shy away from subjects that they thought were too 'girly.' "Now I have someone to talk about girl things with who won't try changing the subject on me."

"Yeah, boys; who needs 'em right?" The redhead questioned smirking.

"Right." Perenna replied absently and they stopped at her locker, not noticing, or rather, _ignoring_ the looks they were getting. She took off her coat and put it onto the hanger inside. "Maybe I should have worn my hoodie, this feels kinda weird." She said patting the fabric that clung to her upper body to emphasis her point. "Not to mention these." She said gesturing to the jeans she was wearing. "Though I do appreciate you letting me borrow your clothes, I really do."

"But there just not your style?" Mary Jane questioned and Perenna nodded guiltily. "That's too bad, because you look great in them."

Perenna blushed again and put her pack back over her shoulder. "Uh, we should go get your schedule." She murmured. "Come on, I'll show you where the main office is." Her blush reddened as MJ put her arm back around her shoulder. Though she incredibly dense to 'certain things,' this was rather obvious. "Uh, Mary Jane, we've only known each other for a few days."

The redhead's expression didn't change. "And since we're going to be living together, we _should_ get to 'know each other' better, don't you think?" she purred and smirked at the brunette's continually reddening face. "Aw, you're so cute when you're flustered."

"Lying in on a little thick don't aren't you?" Perenna quipped nervously.

Mary Jane kept the smirk on her face. "Hey, if it makes you nervous, I'll tone it down a bit."

"Thank you." Perenna said gratefully, and in a way she _was_ grateful that the redhead was taking her mind off more depressing matters. The thoughts of guilt were still lurking at the edge of her mind, ready to remind her of her failure. She occupied her thoughts though of trying to get a job to pay for the hospital bill and the upcoming funeral for her aunt and uncle.

"Hi Perry." A light feminine, bubbly voice said and the brunette looked up from where she waited outside the office for MJ to retrieve her class schedule.

"Hello Gwen." Perenna replied civilly. The blond had it all it seemed, she had the brain, looks, and money, yet she never dated; though Perenna thought it had something to do with boys being scared off by the fact the girl's father was the Chief of the police force.

"Are you in trouble?" Gwen questioned tilting her head.

Perenna shook her head. "No, I'm just waiting for my friend to get her schedule."

"Her? So you got yourself a girlfriend?" Gwen questioned.

While Perenna knew the blond was just saying the _literal_ meaning that she had a friend who was a girl, Perenna felt the need to correct it anyway. "Yes, I have a _friend_ who happens to be a _girl_." She stressed.

"Well good for you, it must have been trying with only guys for friends." Gwen replied kindly.

"Yes, it was at times," The brunette agreed, "but they're still my best friends."

"Well, have a nice day." Gwen said giving her a small wave before walking off.

Perenna reflected on the girl's attitude for a moment; since she showed no difference toward her, did this mean she didn't know what had happened to her guardians? Or was simply the girl trying to be nice, since she knew that anyone else would have rubbed the incident in her face. Her thoughts trailed off as Mary Jane came out of the office. "What'cha got then?"

"English, Drama, P.E, and then Science." Mary Jane listed off.

"Hmm, I got both English first and Science as my last period too." Perenna replied.

"Really? That's great." MJ said cheerily. "So where's English then?"

Perenna smiled slightly before grabbing the redhead's hand. "Come on, if we make it there first we can get good seats."

"Wow, you really are a nerd, aren't you?" Mary Jane quipped.

Instead of taking offense, Perenna's smile widened. "Sure am."

Their bantering was cut short as an arm roughly wrapped around her neck, but before she could react, the voice spoke, "Glad to see your back, I'd hate to go to class all by my lonesome."

Perenna calmed instantly and patted the arm. "Hey Harry, could you let me go? You hugging me like this is a little awkward."

"Oh, right, sorry." Harry replied as he pulled his arm away and looked over at the other redhead. "Hey…you from yesterday."

"Mary Jane." The redheaded girl supplied.

"Right, Mary Jane." Harry nodded and looked back at Perenna. "How are you today?"

"Harry, it's not even 9 o'clock, ask me at the end of the day." Perenna retorted smirking. "How are you doing though?"

"Same old, same old." Harry replied evasively. "Tried out for the Basketball team last Thursday, supposed to know who got onto the team tomorrow though." He added.

The bell rung and the students moved into the classroom.

* * *

><p>Perenna looked around the lunch room, but could see neither hide nor hair of her blond male friend. "Harry, have you seen Eddie at all today?"<p>

The redheaded male shook his head. "No, why?"

"It's just that he never tried to see me yesterday, or showed up today." Perenna replied. "I'm just wondering where he could be, that's all."

"Maybe he decided to skip?" Harry suggested.

This made Perenna frown slightly. "Yeah, maybe…" she trailed off before shaking her head and as she looked around once more, she noticed something else. "Since Flash hasn't tried to be the cloud on my sunny day, I take it that he hasn't come back to school yet?" she asked with a rueful smile at the 'sunny day' part, which was more like an already cloudy, rainy day to begin with.

"No, so I suggest you enjoy it while it lasts." Harry retorted rolling his eyes. "You okay to come over after school and get started on the English assignment? Uh, you can tag along too if you want." He said looking at the other redhead.

Mary Jane tapped her chin. "Sounds like a plan, count me in." she chimed.

Perenna smiled, but took another look around. Maybe the reason no one knew about what had happened to her aunt and uncle was because none of the other teenagers watched the news? She hoped that was the case anyway.

* * *

><p>"So how was your first day?" Perenna asked as she sat down on the aisle seat of the bus and Mary Jane took the window seat, Harry taking the seat behind them.<p>

Mary Jane shrugged. "It was okay, but do the teachers always have to give so much homework?"

Perenna shrugged also. "Eh, what can you do?"

Harry snorted. "To you it may not be a big deal, but then again, none of us has your brain." He mocked.

"Whatever." Perenna retorted flippantly. "And to answer your earlier question…I feel fine." She said earnestly. "Much better in fact, although if it was the change of scenery or the fresh air is debatable."

"Well I'm glad that you look much livelier than you did yesterday." Mary Jane said smiling as she placed a hand on Perenna's shoulder, and the brunette smiled back.

The redheaded boy looked between the two girl's and too long glances they shared. "Uh, did I miss something yesterday?" Then more slyly he said, "'Cause if I did, you can tell me about it."

Mary Jane pulled her hand back and rolled her eyes as Perenna twisted around to smack Harry on the shoulder lightly. "Nothing happened, we just talked, so get mind out of the gutter."

"Right, you both just _talked_." Harry's tone implied that he didn't believe them for a minute.

Perenna tried to smack him again, but he moved back into his seat. She huffed lightly before settling back in her seat and enjoyed the rest of the bus ride.

It did not last much longer though as the bus stopped at the corner of the street where Harry's home was and the trio got off the bus, the walk from point A to B not taking longer than ten minutes and soon the three of them were inside the grand house and making their way upstairs.

Perenna though stopped on the first step. "Wait, I'll go make the snacks, you two go on ahead."

"Ohh, snacks, you two really must work up an appetite." Mary Jane chuckled as she and Harry continued up the stairs.

Perenna shook her head and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a plate out of the cupboard and after taking turkey, and cucumbers out of the fridge; she got to work making the sandwiches. Afterwards when she finished making the third turkey sandwich, she had just put the turkey away and was about to grab the plate when she saw the new arrival and froze. _'Maybe he won't notice me?_' she thought before striking the idea down to be too stupid. "Uh, hello Mr. Osborn."

The older red-haired man looked at her. "Miss Parker, you're here to help Harry no doubt."

Perenna tried not to cringe. "Actually sir, we're working on a school assignment." She replied and grabbed the plate before cautiously trying to move passed the man, only to freeze as his hand came down on her shoulder and tried hard not to jerk away.

"I heard what happened to your aunt and uncle from the news yesterday, and after such a tragedy it's a surprise to see you about." Osborn observed, his eyes narrowing intently on her.

Perenna managed to keep her wits. "It was, but I've had my friends there to help me cope." She responded. "If you'll excuse me now sir…" she said pointedly. Osborn continued to glare at her until he removed his hand and Perenna was allowed free movement and she managed to restrain herself from sprinting to the stairs and running up them.

When she came into the bed room though, her redheaded male friend looked at her in concern. "Perry, what's wrong?" he asked looking at her pale face.

"I talked to you dad when he came into the kitchen." Perenna answered steadily, even surprising herself.

"My dad's home?" Harry asked in surprise.

Mary Jane gave him a quick look, but didn't ask him to elaborate as she took the plate from Perenna and walked her over to the bed. "We could go if he scared you…"

Perenna shook her head and paused for a moment and gave MJ an annoyed look as her face gained back its color. "He didn't _scare_ me," she muttered, "he just surprised me, that's all. And I'll be fine, really."

Although neither Harry nor Mary Jane looked like they believed her, neither one of them pushed the subject.


	8. Blow You Away

A/N: I own nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: Blow You Away<strong>

Perenna would be lying if she said that the last two days hadn't been good, her friends were supporting-even Eddie, who had come back from his mysterious disappearance on Monday-but right now as she stared down into the ground where her aunt and uncle's coffins were, she felt the despair she'd been trying to push back came back.

She'd absently replied to the condolences with blank gratitude that friends of her uncle and aunt knew, and she was only brought out of her trance when a woman walked over to her. "Hello Miss Parker, could I have a moment?"

Perenna blinked and glancing over at her small group of friends and Anna were talking, she looked back at the woman in front of her. "Sure…" she trailed.

"I'm Karen Page, your aunt worked as my secretary and had entrusted me as her and your uncle's lawyer." The woman explained. "If you're feeling well enough, we could head over the law firm and proceed with the reading of your guardian's will."

Perenna thought it over for a moment before nodding. "Sure, that sounds fine…"

* * *

><p>Windfall floated across the ground, the lab workers around her having had their airwaves constricted enough to render them all unconscious. While she wasn't particularly bloodthirsty like her sister and killed willy-nilly, she <em>did<em> however find _certain_ extremes necessary to complete her objective.

And destroying the generator that was polluting the air was worth suffocating a few corporate sheep's.

She channeled her wind power into what she had dubbed 'razor wind' and 'threw' it at the generator and after it began sparking, she floated out of the building, not bothering to look back as the whole building went up in flames from the explosion.

She had another stop to make after all.

* * *

><p><em>"…and we are receiving verification that indeed the whole building was destroyed and the identities of the scientists caught in the explosion have not been released yet…"<em>

"Oh, those poor people." Anna said shaking her head.

Perenna stared blankly at the television for a moment and quietly asked to be excused. She walked back up to the guest room that was now hers until the courts decided otherwise. Her mind was still reeling from the fact her aunt and uncle had left everything to her, but what really threw her was the fact they had both gotten life insurance.

She was still wondering why they hadn't told her, at least then she wouldn't have made a fool of herself in front of Miss Page. She hadn't cared about _how_ much money she got, and was more than willing to let it build in the bank until she was 16 to be allowed to use it.

Still, she needed a job to pay off that hospital bill and the money she won at the wrestling tournament wasn't going to cut it. She had seen the newspaper that was lying on the table downstairs and her thoughts went back to her costume. Maybe she could kill two birds with one stone, as she needed the money, but she could also _sell_ pictures of herself if she went out and fought crime like she originally planned.

Perenna stood from the edge of the guest room bed and headed over to MJ's room, where she found the redhead listening to her music and the bopping her head to the music under her headphones. "MJ?" she called out loud enough for the other girl to hear her and the girl looked at her, taking the listening devices off in the process.

"Yeah Perry?"

"Uh, mind if I use your computer, I…um, can't go get mine just yet." Perenna answered quietly.

Mary Jane looked at her sympathetically. "Uh, sure then."

"Thanks." Perenna replied with a slight smile and sat at the computer and started to look up on the lab that was destroyed and found that it was one of two only two labs that used a nuclear generator and she also read that the waste was being transferred to the pier in the warehouse district. She tried not to think too much about how these things were all owned by OsCorp and instead focused on the task at hand. "Thanks for letting me use your computer." She said logging off and getting out of the seat.

"You're welcome." Mary Jane replied, but she sat up straight and grabbed a hold of Perenna's arm before the girl could leave. "Wait a minute."

Perenna looked at the redhead strangely. "Yes?"

"Did you hear about the Superwoman sighting yesterday?" Mary Jane asked brightly.

Perenna frowned to herself as she thought about the mysterious 'urban legend' that mad made its way around the city. She was a little skeptical herself about this person really existing, but if she did, then she was sure a lot of papers would want to get a picture of her.

The thought made Perenna feel like smacking herself. _That_ was how she was gonna earn her money, but she also didn't lose sight of her current lead. "No, MJ, I didn't hear about the sighting."

Mary Jane shook her head with a sigh. "Too bad no one can ever get a picture of her."

Perenna smiled slowly as she walked out of the room. _'Who knows, maybe someone will_.'

* * *

><p>Windfall entered the building, her floating above the ground like before and floated to where the generator was, fully prepared to take out anyone standing in her way. She asphyxiated the scientists in the room as she found this too be a much merciful end than to let them burn to death in the ensuing explosion that would follow after the generator was destroyed.<p>

Her concentration was cut off and the scientist dropped the ground unconscious rather than dead when a glob of white goop hit her in the face and stuck there. She hastily manipulated the wind and blew the goop off her face, only to get kicked in the face and knocked out of the air by a blue ballet-like slipper.

Windfall glared up at the one who dared to interfere and had to restrain her outrage at the petite form that landed in front of her. The adversary was little more than a girl in a form-fitting outfit that left her shoulders bare, one sleeve red and the other blue but both were detailed in black web-lines to the thumb and the fingers were left exposed. There was a spider logo on her chest that several other black web-lines spread from, the patterns of colors alternating in a display of red and blue while there was a diamond pattern running up her throat from the spider logo and her red mask wrapped around her eyes and detailed in black spider cracks while the eyes were large and a blank white.

"You dare attack me, _child_?" Windfall spat.

The girl smirked. "Oh, I dare." She retorted. "Especially if it means stopping you from hurting more innocent people."

Windfall sneered. "These people aren't innocent, they are willingly helping that tyrant Osborn destroy the environment!" she snapped. "Now stand aside or you will be removed."

The girl shook her head. "Not gonna happen."

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance." Windfall muttered before spreading out her arms and several of her 'razor winds' were thrown at the girl, who dodged each one gracefully and the girl struck out one hand and strands of webbing came from her _fingertips_, the action being so sudden that it made Windfall falter and her arms were webbed to her sides.

"And don't say I didn't give _you_ a chance." The girl parroted and Windfall scowled at her.

"Impudent child." She retorted and worked on trying to cut through the webbing but she failed to notice the spider-themed girl swooped up and grabbed her, pulling her back away from the scientists and by extension the generator she had been going to destroy.

Now though she wasn't so worried about her mission than getting away to meet up with the rest of her team for the big mission.

The girl put her down before unceremoniously leaning forward and placed a mocking kiss on her cheek.

The action had stunned Windfall, but she noticed at the last moment the girl's fist about to come down on her head and she cushioned the blow enough to leave her conscious and she once again used her 'razor wind' to cut through the webbing and followed up making a blast of air send the girl flying into the wall, leaving her dazed enough for Windfall to make her escape through the skylight.

The spider-themed girl got up as she heard the sirens and also made her exit through the skylight, 'cause even if she was down for the moment, she was not out.

She still had the harbor lead to follow up on.

* * *

><p>The following day at school, Perenna did maintenance on an old camera that Anna let her keep. She sat in the Science room as the class didn't start for another 10 minutes and she wanted to get this done in time. While she was a genius, she was not a mechanic and had a hard time in figuring out if she had gotten it right.<p>

She heard the door open and looked up, expecting to see Mr. Potter-Mason, but instead a blond, lanky, teenage boy came in with a bag slung over his shoulder. "Oh, hi, Max." she said as she looked back down at the camera.

The blond paused in the door before he walked over to sit beside her. "Hi, Perenna." He said awkwardly. "I, um, heard about what happened to your aunt and uncle and…"

Perenna felt an ache in her chest before brushing it aside as she held up her hand. "It's okay; you don't need to say anything." She replied. "Though, do you know how anything about mechanics?"

Max blinked at her in surprise. "Uh, yeah, why?"

"Can you take a look at this to check if I got anything messed up?" Perenna asked pushing the camera towards him.

The blond looked at her earnest expression before nodding and reached for the camera, his fingers brushing against her hand made his cheeks flush a light red as he quickly looked away to avoid letting the brunette see it as he looked over the camera. "Hmm…everything looks in check. You sure you've never done this before?"

Perenna nodded. "Positive." She replied as the teenage boy gave the camera back to her and she put the device back into her pack as she noticed Max glancing at her again. "Yes?"

The blonde's face flushed but before he could say anything, two redheads came through the door and the female one wrapped an arm around Perenna' shoulder. "Hi, Perry."

Perenna smiled at the girl as she let the redheaded girl lead her away to the table wear the other redhead was sitting. "Hi, MJ, Harry."

"Perry." The redheaded boy said nodding back as students began to enter the room and take their seats at the tables.

* * *

><p>Spider-Girl swung from building to building, the wind blowing in her hair as she decided to check out the harbour lead she had and hoped that this was the place where that woman was going to strike next. She hoped she wasn't wrong. Her attention was diverted by the sound of doors being blasted off its hinges and she swung in closer to the direction it came from to see a man in a yellow and brown quilted suit with two silver gauntlets on his wrists running away from a bank with two bags of money in both hands.<p>

Spider-Girl landed on the building wall and webbed one of the bags and drew it in, making the man look up at her. "Don't you know stealing's wrong?" she questioned in a sing-song voice.

The man raised one gauntlet at her and her spider-sense went off and she _saw_ the way the air was vibrated and shot at her. She moved up and the fabric of his mask moved in a way to indicate that he was scowling at her. "And don't you know how to mind your own business?" he shot back in a southern accent and aimed another blast at her.

Spider-Girl was momentarily stunned by the voice and so she didn't react fast enough to dodge the blast that hit the wall she was on and she fell onto the ground, the bag of cash falling in front of her. _'Of all times for my weakness of southern accents to make me freeze up_.' She thought gloomily as a blush crept onto her face and she saw the man about to fire another blast at her, but she quickly raised one hand and let the webbing fly, the goop proceeding to muck up the man's vision as he tried to pull the webbing off.

This gave Spider-Girl time to get back onto her feet and web the other bag of cash out of the man's hand and swung over him just as the man ripped the webbing off his mask. "Before I take you out, got a name?"

The man whirled around and aimed both gauntlets at her. "You can call me Shocker." He said as he fired a blast at her.

Spider-Girl dodged the attack and looked at him with a smirk. "Gee, that must have taken a while to think up." She said sarcastically.

The man seemed to sneer at her. "Says the Spider-Woman knock off."

Spider-Girl bristled as she shot out her webbing and it hit the man in the chest, her using her super strength to pull the man in and reared back her fist before letting it connect with his jaw. "I…am…not…a…_knock off!_" she hissed at the downed man before webbing him up and taking off his gauntlets so he couldn't blast his way out.

Spider-Girl swung off just as she heard the sirens coming in and disappeared from sight as they arrived to find the criminal dazed and all webbed up.

* * *

><p>Spider-Girl arrived at the harbour and followed the sounds of cackling and destruction as she found three figures all tormenting the dock workers, the woman in the yellow costume being the more pressing threat of the three as she was trying to suffocate the workers, she swung out and jumped the woman after webbing her camera to a nearby building.<p>

Spider-Girl heard a laugh and dodged a blast of water from a woman in a blue outfit and a blue visored mask. "What is this, you think one little girl can stop us?" The woman sneered behind her blue mask.

Spider-Girl dodged the jet of water sent at her and she tried to web the blue outfitted woman, only to have her webbing blasting away by the woman in the yellow outfit.

"You're outnumbered; it's three against one this time." The yellow outfitted woman snarled. "Your dirty tricks won't be saving you snarky ass this time."

Spider-Girl smirked as she gained an inkling of why this woman was so angry at her. "It seemed to do the trick last time." She quipped.

The woman in the yellow costume turned an interesting shade of red. "One of these days, you're going to do _that_ to the wrong person and you're gonna end up paying for it." She hissed. "After all, there are much worse things that can be done to you instead of just kill you for kissing them." She added darkly.

"She did what?" The woman in blue questioned angrily. "Oh, you're dead now, Spidey." She snarled and shot another stream of water at her.

Spider-Girl dodged and swung over them, but a shot of silvery wind cut the web line and she began to free fall. She knew that trying to shoot out a web line wouldn't work as the ground was already so close and just as she closed her eyes behind her mask, she felt herself get lurched to a stop, the sudden impact sending a small jolt through her.

Spider-Girl girl looked up and felt her heart beat in her ears as she stared into the face of a beautiful woman with long flowing black hair and the prettiest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen. The outfit was red and blue like her own, but had a S symbol in a stylized shield design on her blue body suit and a cape attached at the shoulders.

"Looks like you could use a hand." The not-so-nonexistent Superwoman said, her voice making Spider-Girl's legs feel weak, and she wasn't even on the ground!

_'Speak you fool! Don't just stare!_' she chastised herself and made herself speak. "Uh, uh, y-yeah." She stuttered and had to force herself to remember to stand once she was placed on the ground. "You okay with handling these two while I deal with Shakey over there?" Superwoman nodded and the brunette nodded back. "Great.

Spider-Girl managed to lead the bald man away and tried to web him up, only to have the webbing ripped off. "Well this isn't good." She mused aloud.

"Give up, Coldsnap and Heatstroke have probably already planted the bombs inside the warehouse, this whole district is gonna blow!" The bald man retorted and stomped on the ground, causing ground to shake beneath Spider-Girl's feet.

The brunette leaped onto the side of the nearest warehouse and she pursed her lips. She thought fast about what to do, stop this man or the two planting the bomb. She decided eventually to take a third option and do both.

Spider-Girl feinted at the man with trying to web him with one hand and used her other hand to web a pipe behind him and it collided solidly with the man's head as she pulled it in. It didn't knock him out like she'd hoped, but it did disorient him enough to leave him out of commission and she webbed him several extra layers to be on the safe side.

'_Now how do I find these two bombers?_' she thought and figured that if her spider sense warned her of danger, then this hopefully meant she could find the two as they were still a danger to her while she was in the area. She focused and the 360 slow motion kicked in before zeroing in a building that was behind her and inside it showed a man and woman dressed in red, orange, and blue, white.

Spider-Girl's vision went back to normal and she swung off to surprise them from above. She landed onto the roof and punched through the metal before pulling it back and dove in, surprising them both before knocking back the man and gave him a kick to the jaw that sent him flying back into the far side of the building, slumping down the wall out cold.

The red and orange clothed woman, who Spider-Girl guessed was Heatstroke, snarled and fired a blast of red flames at her, the girl dodging gracefully. She fired another shot of webbing at the woman and after Heatstroke burned through it, she jumped over the woman and grabbed the fired extinguisher she'd found and promptly coated the woman in the mist.

Spider-Girl quickly dashed in and kicked the woman in the jaw and she was also sent flying toward the wall before slumping over the man she thought was Coldsnap. The brunette turned her attention back to the bombs and found that they weren't even started. _'Huh, it seems that they must not have figured out how to start these, lucky for me then_.' She thought and picked both bombs up and tied both Coldsnap and Heatstroke up several layers of webbing before dragging them out and dropping them to watch the fight between Superwoman and the lady in blue as she called the police.

"Now it's just you and me." Superwoman said and the crazy lady began cackling, causing the dark-haired woman to frown. "What's so funny?"

"Any minute now this whole district is gonna go up in flames; you can either stop the explosion, but that means you'd have to let me go." The blue costumed woman said giddily.

Superwoman's frown lightened into a smirk as she saw the brunette. "I think not."

The woman in blue looked behind her and Spider-Girl smirked cockily as she saw the woman's face turn to horror and disbelief. "Yeah, I'm just that awesome."

Spider-Girl saw Superwoman move _incredibly_ fast and flicked the blue clothed woman and sent her flying back onto the ground unconscious. "Hmm, I don't remember calling the police." Superwoman mused as she tilted her head in one direction.

Spider-Girl bashfully held up her cell phone. "Yeah, I did that once I took out Hot and Cold here." She said nodding at the duo at her feet and she felt a blush cross her face as she shuffled her feet. "I…I just can't believe you're real." She said awed.

The woman raised a brow in amusement. "You think I didn't exist?"

Spider-Girl's blush deepened. "It's just that, before now I only heard rumors, but brushed them off because I didn't think someone so…_cool_ could be real."

"I suppose it's nice to have a fan." Superwoman said gently as she smiled softly.

Spider-Girl rubbed her arm in embarrassment as the sirens grew close enough for her to hear them. "Thanks. Why don't we head out now?" she suggested and Superwoman flew into the air.

"Nice working with you." She said genially before speeding out of sight.

Spider-Girl stared off into the direction the woman left in. "Wow." She murmured before snapping out of it and swung off, but not before grabbing her camera.

* * *

><p>Perenna looked over the photos she'd taken and wondered if she should try and sell them, but as she was looking at the icon that said send, she took a deep breath and pressed send. She saw Mary Jane come into the room and looked over her shoulder at the photos, her green eyes widening upon seeing the last shot.<p>

"Whoa, that woman is _gorgeous_." She said awed.

"Oh, that's what I thought when I saw Superwoman for the first time too." Perenna replied.

Mary Jane looked down at the brunette oddly. "Superwoman's very pretty I'll admit, but I was talking about the cutie she's holding."

Perenna blushed and turned away to hide it. "Really?" she asked raising her brow.

"Uh-huh." Mary Jane replied nodding as she put on hand on Perenna's shoulder. "How much do you think you'll get for them?"

The brunette shrugged. "Depends on if they use any of them or not, but Aun-" she tripped over the word-"Aunt May always told me to keep transactions I made in copies to show that I did it and use my name."

"Smart woman." MJ said quietly before awkwardly moving her hand away and rubbing the back of her neck. "Uh, from the angle it looks like you were high up to get these."

Perenna shrugged one shoulder slightly. "Yeah, I, uh, climbed up a ladder to get these." She answered evasively.

Perenna smiled, and when the paper came out the next day, she fought to keep the blush off her face as she saw that the picture chosen had been the one of her being held by Superwoman, the blush on her face was bright for the entire city to see.

The brunette's face was red for entire trip to school and even Mary Jane couldn't get her to tell her why.


	9. Always Someone Better

**Chapter 8: ****Always Someone Better**

Mary Jane and Perenna were eating their bowls of Lucky Charms when Anna came in from outside with the mail and was looking through the letters. She stopped with two and held them out to Perenna. "You've got two letters dear."

Perenna blinked as she accepted and opened the first one, a grimace crossing her face. "The bank's going to be selling the house, and I have a week to move out all the belongings." She muttered before moving onto her next one, already thinking of what she was going to do with all the things. She couldn't just throw them away, maybe a garage sale? Let someone else enjoy the items?

Her current line of thought stopped when she read the second letter and gasped, causing both Watson women to look at her in alarm. "It's from Aunt 'Nessa." She said in lieu of an explanation.

"Aunt Who?" Mary Jane asked in confusion.

"My Aunt Vanessa, she's my dad and uncle's sister." Perenna explained.

"You have another aunt?" Mary Jane asked and Perenna nodded. "Then why wasn't she at the funeral or spoke to you?"

Perenna frowned as she thought back to that day, the ache in her chest returning momentarily before she pushed it back. Ever since she'd become Spider-Girl, she'd been feeling that ache less and less. "She was at the funeral, at the back and the last one to pay her respects but the first one to leave." She shrugged. "I'd assumed she'd seen me talking to Miss Page and didn't want to bother me."

MJ still looked a little lost, but Anna seemed to know who Perenna was talking about. "Oh, that woman who used to bring her son over next door when you were young? Lovely woman."

Mary Jane seemed to be grasping what the situation was like now. "So what does she say in the letter?"

"She said she apologizes for not being able to speak with me, but she also wants to meet me after school. Something about catching up." Perenna explained and shrugged.

"Huh." MJ paused. "What she look like anyway?"

"I saw a picture of her as a teenager in the photo album of her with my dad and uncle, she looks like me." Perenna replied.

"She must be pretty then." Mary Jane said smiling and Perenna flushed before finishing up her breakfast. The duo soon headed out to the bus stop and sat in silence for the bus ride and they found a large crowd of students outside the school as they were gathered around a car. Perenna looked to Mary Jane in confusion. "What do you think's going on?"

Mary Jane shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." She said before they headed into the school where they met up with the third of their group, as Eddie seemed to have yet to arrive at school. "Hey, Harry, know what the big deal is outside?"

The redheaded boy shrugged. "Probably just there to greet Flash, he's coming back to school today."

Perenna grimaced as she realized what this meant. "And it was so peaceful otherwise." She said sarcastically.

"Hi, Perry." Someone from behind the brunette said and the girl looked over her shoulder at a passing by Gwen.

"Oh, hi Gwen." She replied before looking back at her friends.

Harry looked distinctly disbelieving. "I don't know whether to be jealous of you Perry or take pointers from you." He said confoundedly as Perenna merely tilted her head in confusion at what he meant.

The bell rang before the subject could be further discussed.

* * *

><p>Perenna looked out from each direction as she emerged from the janitor's closet as she'd spotted Flash coming and had hurriedly hid. She didn't want to deal with him and his harassment if she could today and he'd probably be more than likely to seek revenge against her making him look bad in front of everyone. So it was best to avoid the problem at all if she could.<p>

Perenna walked out fully and made her way down the hall to her next class as lunch was nearly over and she heard knocking coming from inside one of the lockers. She paused as she made her way over to it and tried to peer into the air vents it had. "Hmm?"

"Hi, Perenna."

It took a moment for Perenna to recognize the voice before she shook her head. "Oh, Max, Flash got to you, didn't he?"

"Yeah." There was a sulky tone in Max's voice. "Can you let me out?"

"Sure." Perenna replied and after being told the numbers, unlocked the lock and opened the door with a creak to let the blond male out. "I still can't believe this is being done."

"It's high school, Perenna." The blond replied sourly.

Perenna paused before nodding. "I suppose…" she trailed off before walking off. "Anyway, I better head to class."

"Uh, wait." The blond said before closing his locker and catching up with her. "We're both going to the same class, so why don't we walk together?"

Perenna smiled lightly. "Sure, why not?" she shrugged and noticed the blond was looking at her like he had been the previous day. "I forgot that there was something you wanted to tell me yesterday, wasn't there?"

The blond flushed and nodded his head. "I was, uh, wondering if you were going to the game tonight."

Perenna slowed her footsteps down to a halt as she looked at Max. "Are you asking me out?"

The blonde's flushed reddened. "Well, uh, it doesn't have to be called, but would you go to the game with me?"

Perenna thought about this and from the time she'd already spent around Max when she was helping him with his school work he seemed like a nice guy. "Sure, I'll go to the game with you."

The blond smiled at her. "Great." He said before the bell rang, signaling that lunch had ended and the two of them continued on walking to the Science classroom.

* * *

><p>Perenna walked out with her friends over to the limo at the street, her thought wandering back to the fact she was going to be an intern at ESU tomorrow. They got in and her redheaded male friend instructed the driver to head to the Uptown district. "Thanks Harry, for taking me to meet my aunt I mean."<p>

Harry waved it off. "What are friends for? Though, how come you never mentioned _having_ an aunt?"

Perenna shrugged. "We weren't all that close; it's kinda surprising that she wants to meet me now though." She replied and deftly changed the subject. "Are either of you going to the game later?"

"Yeah," "Yep." Both Harry and Mary Jane said at the same time.

Mary Jane looked at her slyly. "And I heard that someone got herself a date to the game?"

Perenna blushed. "Where did you hear that?"

"I saw that Max guy talking to you as I was walking to class and heard him ask you to the game." Mary Jane replied shrugging.

Harry raised a brow. "Max Dillon, the guy who stares at you all the time in class, the one who's probably just one step away from being a stalker? _That_ Max?"

Perenna made a face as she looked at the boy. "One; he does not stare at me. Two; he is definitely not a stalker."

"I didn't say he was; just that he might be." Harry retorted.

Perenna nodded slightly. "I'll take your words into careful consideration." She said dryly.

Harry's expression turned serious. "I'm being serious here, just remember that all you have to do is come to me and I'll show him why he shouldn't stalk my 'sister.'"

Perenna felt a smile turn up at the corners of her mouth. "Thanks Harry, and…I really will take your words into careful consideration." She added more sincerely. Her eyes turned out to the parlor that the limo stopped at and looked at her friends as she opened the door. "Don't wait up." She said before closing the door behind her and looked around before finding an elegantly dressed woman with long dark-hair, several shades darker than her own, sitting at a table and giving a cursory glance to the menu.

Perenna gulped as she approached the table and took a seat at the opposite end. "Hello, Aunt 'Nessa."

The woman looked up at her and tilted her head. "It's so strange how you look more like me every time I see you." She murmured and Perenna smiled shyly. "But how are you dear?"

"I'm…fine." Perenna answered tentatively as she hadn't talked to the woman in such a long time. "Um, don't take this the wrong way, but…" she trailed off as she thought of a way to phrase what she was going to say.

She didn't have to say anything apparently. "What am I doing here now?" Vanessa questioned and Perenna nodded tentatively. "I know we aren't close, but," A look of genuine sadness came over the woman's face, "I've already lost my brother's and you're the only one from them both that is still around, and I want don't want to lose that."

Perenna stared down at her lap as she thought the words over. It sounded like there was an implication in them. "And, what you suggest as a reconnection?"

Vanessa smiled at her. "I want to take you in as my ward. I always wanted a daughter…" she trailed off wistfully.

Perenna missed the last part as her mind went to the fact if she went with her aunt, then she wouldn't be put in a foster home, and the woman _was_ family. Then again the woman probably described her in the same way when she thought about wanting to catch up. "Well, it would be nice to see Richie again, how is he?"

The woman's smile widened. "He's fine, just graduated college last summer and he's working in his father's business."

Perenna nodded, as she knew her aunt was married, but not to _who_, seeing as when she was young she thought of very little other than playing out in the yard with her 'brother' and cousin. "Do I have to make the decision right now?" But not to sound ungrateful or rude, she hastily added, "It's just that my old home is being sold and I have to move everything out before the end of the week."

Vanessa nodded in understanding. "I see, and you don't have to leave your current residence right now. It will give me time to set up your room anyway." She said smiling.

Perenna nodded again, this time in a more mystified manner. Her aunt was being so understanding, but she wasn't about to pass up reconnecting with the only blood relation she still had. "Thank you for understanding, um, I need to get going." She said blushing in embarrassment. "I have a…date." She tripped over the use of the word, but there really was no other word she could use to describe it.

The woman smiled knowingly. "Right, have fun then."

Perenna nodded and smiled at her before leaving. She wasn't angry that her friends had taken what she'd said at face value and left, she had her own way to get home after all. She ducked into an alley and stripped out of her clothing to reveal the red and blue suit, putting on her mask before shooting out web lines from her fingertips and swung out of the alley, her pack slung over her shoulder.

She heard a commotion from a bank and decided she could get in some crime fighting action and took her camera out of her pack and webbed it at an angle so the shots could be made without any interference. She swung in just as Shocker came running out the doors and she kicked him back inside the building, the momentum sending off his feet and onto his back. "Not you again!"

Spider-Girl laughed, it being such a light, airy sound that it even surprised her as she swung into the bank and placed one dainty foot onto Shocker's chest. "Yup, me again." She said and stuck her hand out, ready to web the guy up and get ready for her date. "You didn't learn your lesson from the last time, did you? Or did you just want to see me again, Shocky?" she said as her grin widened.

"Bite me!" Shocker snapped before raising his gauntlets and the resulting blast sent Spider-Girl flying back onto the floor.

Spider-Girl shook her head of messy hair and rose to her feet, her grin had faded like dusk and her mouth was now set in a firm line. She saw that the man was about to blast her before his gauntlets sparked as he tried to fire them and they went up in smoke. She found this very strange and but wasn't about to question the guy's use of mechanics as she ran in and punched Shocker and it sent him flying back again. She saw a flash of blond hair behind the counter of the teller but thought nothing of it as she webbed Shocker down for the police and swung off, sullenly webbing her camera and reeled it in, knowing full well that she probably hadn't gotten any good photos has the 'fight' had been inside.

* * *

><p>"I feel…funny." Perenna said staring into the mirror in and looked at the tight red shirt she was wearing with the black open jacket on top and the fitting black skinny jeans, her hair down and ornamented with a red headband MJ had laying around.<p>

"You look great." Mary Jane assured her as she wondered why she was helping her friend dress up for her 'date.'

Perenna smiled radiantly at the redhead. "You really think so?" she asked looking herself over, feeling somewhat self-conscious.

Mary Jane nodded. "I really do." She replied in affirmation.

Perenna's shoulders relaxed and they both headed down the stairs and walked out the door to the bus stop. They chatted and wondered if Harry's basketball team would kick off the season by winning. When they arrived, she found the blond nervously waiting outside the gym and looking around before he noticed her and his eyes widened. "Hi, Max."

The blond nodded, looking dumbstruck. "Uh, hi Perenna; you look nice." He replied blushing.

Perenna smiled, feeling flustered herself. "Thank you." She said sincerely and the three of them headed into the gym and into the bleachers.

The basketball game was underway, but the football players and the cheerleaders were all clumped together. "I don't believe it, Puny Parker's here with weird guy, looks like she dumped your ass Brock." Flash chuckled and the other blond glowered at him before looking up at Perenna and her 'date.'

The thought was oddly enraging. Perry was _his_, wasn't she? So what was she doing here with someone else? Then again, the more rational part of him argued that Perenna was still too young for him and he shouldn't be holding a torch for her. She only saw him as a friend and that was unfortunately all she saw him as she just a little too easily accepted that they couldn't be together.

He also knew it was irrational to think he had some claim on the girl, but then again, he _did_ know her for the majority of their lives and thought he had at least some entitlement.

* * *

><p>The next day after school she'd practically raced to the ESU building and found a tall blond standing at the foot of the stair, staring up at the building in awe.<p>

"Wow, this place is huge."

"You know, talking to yourself is a sign of mental instability." Perenna said lightly as she found the place to be awe-inspiring as well.

The blond looked over at her, and she saw him wearing a white shirt, a blue over jacket and blue pants. "Oh really? You telling me _you_ wouldn't be able to say something when _you_ saw this building?"

"No, honestly, because I _thought_ it instead." Perenna replied smirking.

The blond huffed as he walked in and held the door open. "You coming in or what?" he asked and Perenna walked in as well. "So you a student or something?"

"Or something." Perenna replied chuckling. "I'm a science intern, just starting out as a matter of fact." She said and she knew her expression was proud.

The blond raised a brow. "Really? Me too, I go to Domino, you?"

"I go to Midtown." Perenna replied.

"Hmm, my sister goes to the middle school there." The blond said thoughtfully. "Seeing as we're gonna be working together," he said as he held out his hand, "hi, I'm Joey Wheeler."

Perenna shook his hand as she thought about his name. "Perenna Parker." She replied and bit her lip. "You said your last name was Wheeler? Do you happen to know a Serenity Wheeler?"

Joey blinked and tilted his head. "Yeah, she's my sister, how do you know her?"

"She's my friend." Perenna answered shyly. "We met on Shadow Day at my school and hung out last weekend." She said as her face contorted into a look of sadness as she thought back to what else had happened that weekend, but pushed it aside for now.

"My sister went to your school for Shadow Day huh?" Joey questioned and his expression blanked. "Well…I really have nothing to say to that." He added awkwardly.

Perenna smiled dryly at that. "You're funny." She joked and rolled her eyes.

They both walked down the hall and arrived at the main lab to see a blond man with a missing arm and a redheaded woman by him. "Oh, you must be the interns." The blond said.

"Are we the only ones our school recommended?" Joey asked in surprise.

"As a matter of fact…eh, yes." The blond man said lamely.

"And that makes this opportunity all the better then." Joey replied smirking.

"Glad you see it that way." The redheaded woman said smiling.

Joey looked a little spacey for a moment, as though he was thinking of something before he spoke. "It's nice to meet you; Miss Drew talked about you in my science class."

Perenna took up the statement. "Yes, it's such an honor to meet you, Dr. Connors." She said holding her hand out to the blond man.

The man shook her hand with his remaining one and questioned if they knew about 'gene-splicing.' Joey surprising took the reigns as he launched right into an explanation.

They all stared at him, Perenna feeling vaguely jealous of his knowledge and this was not a feeling she was used to, as she'd never had any real competition in the brains department.

"I like Science." Joey said shrugging and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Clearly." Dr. Connors said as his voice sounded dazed before clearing his throat. "Alright then, here's what I want you two to do today…"

Perenna listened, but her thoughts were stuck on the fact Joey might be better than her at this.


End file.
